Where did your interest in photography come from?

I’ve always loved art in all of its forms. Since I could first hold a crayon, I was making art. I was first interested in drawing, and then painting, and then writing, but nothing stuck for me. It wasn’t until my dad bought his first Nikon DSLR that my interest for photography really took off. I kept stealing his camera to take photos of my mom’s garden in the yard, and soon I was using it all the time. It was a magical experience for me because I loved that I could capture reality exactly the way I perceived it.

Who/what were some of your early creative influences?

When I was in high school, I started going to art museums in Minneapolis for the first time, so much of the art I consumed came from the Western world. I loved the light and contrast from Baroque paintings and the dreaminess of Romantic paintings, which I tried to imbue in my early work. On the web, I spent a lot of time on Flickr and Tumblr.

What about now? How has your approach to your work changed over time?

Lately, my influences have turned inwards towards my own family and heritage. My dad was the designated family photographer throughout my childhood and single-handedly built an archive of my family from the 80’s into the early 2000’s. With his Minolta, he documented the entirety of my siblings’ childhoods, and then my childhood with digital point-and-shoots once digital cameras became the norm. Now, the tables have turned and I’ve become the family photographer. I’m really interested in documenting oral histories and maintaining a personal archive. As a result, my current work has shifted from smaller, short-term projects to something broader.

Can you share a challenging or memorable moment you’ve experienced in your journey as a photographer?

In 2021, I published the second issue of my zine series, Fashioning a Sense of Self, which I had originally created for my senior project in college. I rushed myself, scheduled and shot portraits of 18 people, and produced, marketed, and sold the zine myself in less than a year. I burned myself out. It took me almost a year to want to do something creative again, and I had even lost the desire to take portraits for a while. I was proud of the final product but thought I could have done better if I gave myself the time to do so. It was an important lesson learned for creating a sustainable art practice for myself.

In your introduction you touched on the idea of constructing an unreliable image of your grandmother, can you talk a bit more about that?

In my book, I touch on the idea of constructing my own understanding of my grandmother. Since I’ve only met my grandmother a few times before her dementia progressed, I was never able to spend much time with her and ask her about her life. As a result, much of what I know comes from stories told by relatives. But the thing about oral storytelling is that, as time goes on, memories shift and people recount things in different ways. People recount stories based on the context of who’s in the room, where they are, and when they are telling it. There is no objective reality, but there is a truth to the emotions that people feel and remember when they tell stories.

What I know of her now is not necessarily her truth, but it’s my subjective truth about her. With the images in Wa Leng Wa Hor, one can take a look and make assumptions about who she was, but I know her to have been a fiercely stubborn and independent matriarch who was often grouchy in her last years of life but still had her own moments of joy.

How does it feel to see your work in book form? And specifically, how does it feel to share such personal images this way?

I feel so much joy and am grateful to have published a tribute to my grandma in this way. While the photos are very intimate for me, my family, and my relatives, I hope others can catch a glimpse into a family they might not know and celebrate my grandma’s life with me. Perhaps it will make them think of their own grandmothers and other loved ones who hold such a special place in their lives.

What’s one thing you’d like to accomplish this next year?

I’m planning on taking photos of my family more intentionally this year. Over time, I’ve accumulated many candid photos of them from my annual trips home, but I’d like to have them sit for me in a more formal setting.

What about in your lifetime?

I would like to construct a large body of work spanning decades. Despite the many years I’ve spent dedicated to photography, it feels like my photography career is only starting to germinate. I want to treat my work and creative practice with care, and I’m looking forward to seeing my work bloom over the course of my lifetime.

Adri Tan’s Website

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Available for purchase: Wa Leng Wa Hor