The Beginning

By Hai Zhang

The Beginning is a pursuit of understanding of identities and context. “Hi, my name is Hai. I live in West Harlem and have been taking photographs in Harlem and the Bronx. Do you think I can take a portrait of you?” for a year of time between 2018 to 2019, I was asking the same question nearly every day on the streets in Harlem and the Bronx. The yes answer exhilarated me. The following few minutes were always magical – the persona presented in front of the lens was enigmatic and intriguing. Whether it was a literal self or a fictional version, surely it was what he/she wanted to be perceived. March 2018, it was almost Spring. It was still cold and the streets were covered with snow and piles of dirty ice. My life had become increasingly domestic for the needs to care of my then one and half years old son. The isolation made me desperately need for a change - something consistent, yet evolving; instant, yet slow pace; close to my home, yet unknown. I loaded my camera with a roll of film and went out to take photographs. I did it for 365 days. Six months after the 365 rolls of film were exposed, New York City went into unprecedented lockdown because of the pandemic. My life went into confinement again. I wasn’t able to say my usual inquiry line on the street. I continued the project with a new line of inquiry to incorporate collages. In the collages, the watercolor silhouettes replaced the characters on the streets. The juxtaposition of the photographs and painting presented generics and specifics, absence and presence, void and fullness. Together, the collages and these photographs that bore witness of full cycle of a year gave me the sense of the lasting and fading encounters on the street; how the identities are shaped by the context beyond our own routine; the meaning of resilient and turmoil against the ever-changing background. Inside of me, the project transformed the interests in observing to the burning desire of wanting to participate in this process.