Meet Linh Tang | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Linh Tang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Linh, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
We live near the edge of Ho Chi Minh City, my family and I, within close distance of my father’s family, and my mother’s. My father has 9 brothers and sisters, my mother has 6, a part of our familial life is to go visit one another often every week. I remember layers of sounds and scents and bodies all around me, there are always movements and interactions, triggering all of your senses, and you’ll have to stay alert if you don’t want to feel lost, or alone. Growing up I quickly understand that there are 2 things will always keep in mind: family comes first, and don’t fall behind.

I remember feeling extremely confused at the sudden switch in positive and negative moods between my family, how we can laugh with one another and then immediately become aggressive in our speech. I knew it now but not before, that we all inherited trauma and anxiety from our parents, who inherited from their parents who survived the war, and so on. Vietnam has been in a constant state of war and invasion, continuously adapting, compromising, and surviving. The last war ended when my mother was 6 years old. I’m not saying all this defines Vietnamese, but it played a big role in how we were born and raised, how in our mentality we hold on strongly to our family, how resourceful we can live, and how fiercely we can fight for ourselves with the fortitude forged in our genes. From the worse events can stem something good, but there is chaos too, we have to grow up faster than we’re supposed to, in order to take on responsibilities faster.

My mother told me that I have been a sensitive child, even at 2 years old I would refuse to get off the motorcycle to see my relatives because they would make fun of my appearance, I don’t remember this, but the “innocent” criticism would reoccur as I was growing up. My mother taught me to find inner confidence and to ignore negative comments, but if you were consistently told that your worth is in what you do and you aren’t good at anything, sooner or later you start believing it. I am a clumsy person, and I didn’t care to fulfill my feminine duties (house chores, speaking softly, looking beautiful, etc.), to defend my worth I strived to achieve in school instead. I could have proved my worth with art, as I was good at drawing, but nobody took art seriously as nobody knew exactly what its function was. So I drew to keep myself happy, to escape and dream, then it slowly becomes a form of expression. I relied on academic achievements to be my credible identity, and as I was close to the last years of college I became terrified of not knowing who I really am, what I can do in life. It was until I turned back to making art (photography and image-making) that I started to understand my values, and I started to heal, and I became grateful for all the things that have happened to me and I realize that I can help others like me to feel the same way.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When someone tells you that you are special as a kid, you will start to believe it because your world was small. Until your world expand that you realize everyone is special and therefore no one is. Such realization can bring down your ego and monolithic worldview, but it also motivates you to explore what makes the world diverse. I think the difference between each of us is the life we have lived. I am personally proud to take after my mother’s courage, this is the element that is bigger than all of my fears, and it has gotten me to new physical and artistic places I didn’t even imagine for myself. It is what influences the audacity to show my work and stand my ground. Moreover, thanks to the criticism that I grew up with, I learned humility and resilience. Without these characteristics, I would have been the biggest narcissist who will never progress, who is fragile in the face of failure, I would have given up a long time ago.

If “A mans manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) and “every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.” ( Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray), then my art is a reflection of my manner, and my manner is a reflection of how I have lived my life. This means you can expect my work to be dreamy and experimental, because I’m a dreamer and I have the audacity to take risk, fail, but show it to you anyways. You can expect my work to be intimately vulnerable in its essence, or bold and unapologetic and egotistic. You can expect a chaotic fluctuation in my art style because I am in a constant state of learning while not knowing any, but rest assure that they will be authentic because my values are always there.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I will take my friends gallery hopping and we would eat so much good food! And at night we would cruise along the coast and to go the mountains to experience the clouds and fog, these are the few things my friends from New York or Vietnam wouldn’t get to do too much.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mother is at the top of my Shout Out list, she is and will always be credited in any and all my past, current, and future achievements. She taught me to look for the answer within myself first. She was the first person to truly understand and allowed me to be exactly who I am as well as to explore who I might become. She has been my number 1 supporter in all matters, emotionally, mentally, and financially. From the beginning she made sure to give me the best options possible, she made sure I have a better life than she did, and she invested in my studies and my artistic expression. She inspired me with her stories, her outlook, her kindness, honesty, humanity, compassion, forgiveness, and resilience. She is the bravest, most courageous person I know. She has fear but she does it anyways. I’d say she’s the perfect combination of vulnerability and strength. My family worked hard to give me the opportunity to pursue my dream.

My friends, who are my chosen family, who encouraged me to quit stalling and start pursuing what makes me happy, who has got my back when I was at my lowest, multiple times over. Friends who helped me heal while they were healing as well, who see my worth before I could even see it myself. Friends who laughed with me, shared the most mundane time with me, shared their sorrows and joys with me. Friends who looked out for my safety and happiness as their own. They were intelligent, inspiring people, with strong sense of individualities

To my partner, who stuck by me since day one, who unknowingly heals the trusts he didn’t break, who doesn’t sugarcoat and talks to me in full honesty. He pushes my limits and opens new perspectives for me, he is never envious and always in focus. Just like my mother, he inspires me with his compassion, his resilience, his dedication, his selflessness. I learned from him how you should do what you do for others and not yourself. He believed in me even when I don’t, knows how to make me laugh, and shares my family values. He is my family.

Shout out to all my past teachers, professors, employers and collaborators, those who taught me how to work and grow, how to be disciplined, indulged in my creativity, and selflessly gave me their best advice. They have given me opportunities that led me here today.

Website: www.linhtang.info

Instagram: @chaos.bebe

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/contactlinh

Other: Behance: https://www.behance.net/linhtang5

Image Credits
Profile photo shot by: Yoko Chou Personal Photograph credits: Models: Nick Nguyen, Sune Burger, Amalia Watty, Aaron Ratnayeke, Caden Ghen, Maeve Sullivan MUA: Elkin MacLeod Stylist Nick Nguyen, Minh Anh Nguyen Wardrobe: Edna Louis Studios, ELENA NGN, Astoud, Marni