李鬆聲 Max Lee (b.1999) is a Cantonese artist who uses photography to establish subtle and intangible connections; he transposes the essence of his subjects into images, installations and performances that invite the viewer to resonate with the emotions on display. For him, photography is a powerful weapon to fight insecurity and challenge the irrational social order.
李鬆聲 Max Lee
Follow me,
I will take you to a safe space.
A space,
where I dare to unveil my pain and vulnerability.
A space,
where I grow in different forms and learn to love myself unconditionally.
I could be a piece of meat.
Meat that is bleeding constantly.
Meat that is cut from my mother’s body on April 19, 1999.
Meat that is raw, fresh, and fragile, longing for you to pick and taste.
Meat that is tender enough to feel your rising temperature, slowly cooked by you.
Meat that you might consider dead, with interlaced marbling shaped by every heartbeat.
Meat that you would eat without overthinking because you believe it will make you big, like a man.
I could be a seed drifting in the desert,
caressed by the embrace of the wind,
looking for a watery oasis.
Where,
I could bury myself,
ready to start my germination and transformation.
There,
along with the nourishing rain and earth,
I could finally grow uninhibited,
revelling in each flowering.
I could be a stream made of beads of rain,
rather than a pool of stagnant water.
Flowing from towering mountains into dense forests,
from barren deserts to fertile plains.
Finally,
into the vast ocean,
mingling with bodies of water from different spheres.
Here we celebrate our similarities and embrace our uniqueness,
no boundaries between you and me.
I could be a drowning blue butterfly still trapped within my chrysalis.
The boundless darkness fades my scales and swallows my pride.
I must break and fly to survive,
despite transience being my destiny.
Dancing in the air,
refracting whatever shines on me into the warmest blue.
Chaotic but balanced,
aware but shameless,
vulnerable but also powerful.
I could be anything or nothing,
but I am always me.
Medium:
PhotographySize:
Various Sizes
June 2023
Self-published with love.
Medium:
Off-white Japanese Linen, 120gsm Matt Photo Paper, 1500 Micron Long Grain BookboardSize:
64 pages, 210x297cm
Tacit means understanding something without being told, or not expressing something openly. I find it to be the perfect word to summarize my life as a gay male in this heteronormative society.
Growing up, I always felt the need to hide, never truly finding a place where I belonged. This ongoing identity crisis compelled me to seek connections with the subtle nuances that unfolded in my dreams and reality. Through these connections, I could nurture a sense of attachment to my surroundings.
Photography, as a tacit language, grants me the ability to create a safe space — a space intricately woven with text, light, body, and movement. Within this realm, I can visualize these connections and transform them into bricks, gradually constructing a home where I can settle.