Tenderness as Resistance: Marginalized Community Documentaries - OD5126

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Charmaine Poh works across photography, film, and performance to create spaces for narratives that are often unseen and unheard. Central to her practice is considering the performativity of the everyday, and the ways tenderness can be a form of resistance and rebuilding of worlds. 

In this talk, she delves into her process working with communities in Asia, from single mothers to LGBTQ persons, and the ways she makes use of the documentary form to present her genre-spanning work.

Charmaine spent her growing up years in Singapore as an actor, before finding the camera mid-way through college in Boston. Through the lens, she began examining how individuals navigated complex issues of identity and society, producing bodies of work that have been exhibited and published internationally. This talk will begin with how Charmaine found her voice making images, followed by introducing the projects that have anchored her practice, before concluding with a call to careful, intersectional attention.

Technical Level: General Audience

Type: Keynote

Category: Inspiration

Track: Photography

Audience: Art/Creative Director, Educator, Photographer