BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:13563-c8db9456e1c9f96c013632680673d162@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260911T172911Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211102T110000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211102T120000 SUMMARY:The Humanities Institute Presents “The Stage’s a World: Photography and Design in May’s Studio, San Francisco, 1920–1930s” by Chang Tan DESCRIPTION:\nPhotography has always aimed to not only document reality but also to create fantasy. Photographic practices in diasporic communit ies in particular construed worlds that transcended time and space. In t his talk\, I discuss the surviving photographs\, backdrops\, and ephemer as of May’s Studio in San Francisco’s Chinatown during the early twentie th century. I show how those elaborately staged and manipulated images p erformed political and personal connections with the Republic of China w hile compressing and blending diverse visual and material cultures\, res ulting in layered sceneries that were spectacular\, hybrid\, and surreal . The photographers collaborated with local painters and theaters to bui ld such fantastic worlds\; used as the background of their sitters\, the y helped embellish and enrich the agency of the Chinese diaspora\, proje cting a story of wealth\, brilliance\, and (almost supernatural) strengt h in an era that was still governed by institutionalized racism against Asian communities. As part of my larger project that studies the design and staging of studio portraits in diasporic “Chinas\,” this talk highli ghts the importance of vernacular photography in the development of visu al culture and in the formation of identities.\n\nFor more details: http s://events.la.psu.edu/event/hi-the-stages-a-world/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Photography has always aimed to not only document reality but also to create fantasy. P hotographic practices in diasporic communities in particular construed w orlds that transcended time and space. In this talk, I discuss the survi ving photographs, backdrops, and ephemeras of May’s Studio in San Franci sco’s Chinatown during the early twentieth century. I show how those ela borately staged and manipulated images performed political and personal connections with the Republic of China while compressing and blending di verse visual and material cultures, resulting in layered sceneries that were spectacular, hybrid, and surreal. The photographers collaborated wi th local painters and theaters to build such fantastic worlds; used as t he background of their sitters, they helped embellish and enrich the age ncy of the Chinese diaspora, projecting a story of wealth, brilliance, a nd (almost supernatural) strength in an era that was still governed by i nstitutionalized racism against Asian communities. As part of my larger project that studies the design and staging of studio portraits in diasp oric “Chinas,” this talk highlights the importance of vernacular photogr aphy in the development of visual culture and in the formation of identi ties.

For more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/hi-the-stages-a-w orld/

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