Lure of the Local(e)

Filter Photo is pleased to present Lure of the Local(e), a solo exhibition of photographic work by Hawaiian artist Brandon Ng. 

Lure of the Local(e) investigates the complexity of belonging by investigating the spaces where history and the body overlap. Utilizing portraiture, objects, and photographic sculpture, Ng reflects on his experiences in Hawaiʻi and the continental United States to explore how land and place specificity affect individual and collective positionality.

The exhibition’s title samples Lucy Lippard’s book The Lure of the Local: Sense of Place in a Multicentered Society. This text focuses on how the body connects to place by examining its relationship to history, geography, and culture. The inclusion of an “e” at the end of the word local calls attention to the body and place specificity while simultaneously referring to “local culture,” a particular political and cultural identity marker in Hawaiʻi. This paronomasia acknowledges subversive notions of land passivity while activating critical discourse surrounding race, power, and settler colonialism. In doing so, Ng asks himself and his audience to consider not if I belong but rather how I belong.

About the Artist

Brandon K.H. Ng (b. 1984, Honolulu, HI) received his BFA from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2012) and is his MFA at Arizona State University (2020). His photographic and installation works focus on the complexities of identity and place distilled through historical, social, and political systems.

On View: May 13 – June 18, 2022

Location: Filter Space | 1821 W Hubbard St, Suite 207

This exhibition was partially sponsored by The Illinois Arts Council Agency.