Barbershops

In 2013, Ho Tam initiated a series of self-published artist books, entitled HOTAM, that explores the intersection of the personal and political. Using the magazine format, HOTAM was published until 2017 as a quarterly artist’s journal to explore a wide frame of thematics from queer Asian identity to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Barbershops is a selection of four photographs from HOTAM #7 (2014). This issue presents a socio-visual investigation of barbershops in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Inside this city within a city, there are over 100 hair salons serving Chinese residents and visitors. Installed at Lansdowne Station on No. 3 Road in Richmond, the work connects to the area’s thriving Chinese diaspora community and the rapidly evolving commercial architecture of the site. Vibrant hubs of social and economic exchange in Chinatown, the barbershops Tam presents are key sites for community building, exchange, and identity construction.

Tam’s Canada Line installations are extensions of Cover to Cover, a solo exhibition of the artist’s work at the Richmond Art Gallery through to May 27.

Presented in partnership with
Canada Line Public Art Program—InTransit BC

Lansdowne Station is curated by
Richmond Art Gallery in partnership with Richmond Public Art Program