Opening Reception | 2.7.2016 (六 Sat) 4 – 6 pm
Exhibition Period | 3 – 21.7.2016
Jhoane Baterna-Pateña, a Filipina photographer, lived in Hong Kong for 5 years and observed a rapidly increasing number of tourists from mainland China who were chanted in taking selfies rather than shopping and sightseeing.
Selfie-takers in Golden Bauhinia Square, for example, focus on their hairstyle, make-up and smile rather than the surroundings. This eccentric phenomenon is no longer surprising in Hong Kong.
In this series, Jhoane captures the selfie-takers and deliberately eliminates the original background, separating the figures in a pure white layer in order to emphasize their gestures. The work leads us to contemplate how it reflects a universal phenomenon and the medium of photography nowadays.
About the Artist
Jhoane Baterna-Pateña was born in Koronadal City, Philippines, in 1978. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce in 2003 and in 2010 moved to Hong Kong, where she became interested in photography as a medium of self-exploration and creative expression.
Jhoane’s first project, “The Art of the Selfie”, is a delightful study of Chinese mainland tourists taking selfies at Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong. Fascinated by the lively, theatrical hustle and bustle of thousands of visitors every day leaving their busses for a short “selfie break”, she created an extensive project on the characters, gestures and facial expressions of the selfie photographers in an enlightening and amusing way, always imbued with great sympathy for her protagonists.
“The Art of the Selfie” was just released in book form published by Asia One Books in Hong Kong and Seltmann + Söhne in Germany. In October, Jhoane will enter the Master study program at BTK University of Art and Design in Berlin.