Photography as a relational medium

A&M's Fresh Face is where we profile an emerging artist from the region every month and speak to them about how they kick-started their career, how they continue to sustain their practice and what drives them as artists.

Jonathan Tan (b. 1994, Singapore) is an artist who thinks about how images behave in the world. His practice is deeply intertwined with his day job as a photographer hired to document artworks, performances, and exhibitions. These experiences fine-tuned his sensitivity to the way artworks are encountered across different contexts: experienced in-situ, circulated in images, and later remembered in recollection. In Jonathan’s hands, the camera is a tool to explore the networks of intimacies and meanings associated with his subject.

Jonathan Tan, Afterimage, 2023, installation view at Carp Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan. Exhibition curated by art naming 奇能. Image courtesy of the artist. — Jonathan Tan, *Afterimage*, 2023, installation view at Carp Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan. Exhibition curated by art naming **奇能.** Image courtesy of the artist.

In his first solo exhibition, Afterimage (2023), Jonathan presented a series of photographs that reinterpret canonical works by other artists. Some of the pieces play on the way artworks circulate as images in print, digital media, and publicity materials. Jonathan re-photographs these circulated artwork images, creating “near reproductions” that expose contextual clues such as a dirty handprint, camera flash or instant message in the background. Other portraits evoke the compositions and poses in famous images such as Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665) and Amanda Heng’s Another Woman (1996-1997), with his friends featured as the subject. Taken together, these photographs question our reading of the image while infusing a layer of private connections into the canon of art.

Jonathan Tan, if a leaf falls Part 1, 2025, exhibition view at Goodman Art Centre, Singapore. Image courtesy of the artist. — Jonathan Tan, *if a leaf falls Part 1*, 2025, exhibition view at Goodman Art Centre, Singapore. Image courtesy of the artist.

This interest in the relational aspect of photography is carried through in Jonathan’s recent solo presentation if a leaf falls (2025). In this body of work, he shifts his lens to artist studios as spaces that reflect aspects of the artistic process and community. Though photographs can be thought of as images that document a specific moment, they are also charged with a strong sense of subjectivity that is only afforded by the private access given to Jonathan.

A major development in Jonathan’s practice is his current exploration of different formats and materials. This includes wooden vitrine-like constructions that house a photograph as well as implements that can be activated, such as a holder for flowers, or lighting incense and candles. In other works, the layer of glass over the framed image is bisected along the middle, creating a fine fault line that can only be seen in person. These interventions often mirror the motifs or compositional elements in the photos, producing a layered experience of the image. They also acknowledge the physicality of photographs as an interface for meaning.

Interview

Jonathan Tan, darius reads, february 2025, 2025, archival print on Hahnemuhle photo rag, sanded aluminium frame, 21 x 30cm. Image courtesy of the artist. — Jonathan Tan, *darius reads, february 2025*, 2025, archival print on Hahnemuhle photo rag, sanded aluminium frame, 21 x 30cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

In 2019, you graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Art History from National University of Singapore. How would you describe your experience or education?

I encountered photography at the end of my second year in university. It led me to pursue art history as a minor under the tutelage of academics and curators working with the National Gallery Singapore. Their perspective helped me understand how an art object or artwork is situated within different contexts.

In 2022, I completed the Visual Storytelling Intensive programme with the International Centre of Photography. The education was centred around developing approaches to create a compelling narrative. In hindsight, it contributed to my desire to work with expanded definitions of photography.

Who has been a mentor or an important artistic influence? And why?

When I started out, I mainly assisted two photographers: Jovian Lim and Khoo Guo Jie. Jovian has an incredible eye for detail, almost working in a painterly manner. He taught me how to work with lighting and to respect every object in the space. Guo Jie has a stylistic approach to composition and colour and thinks about documentation as a visual narrative. They taught me the technicalities of photography and showed me the ropes of how to engage with the business of photography

Like many, I am a benefactor of the work of artists such as Wolfgang Tillmans and Sophie Calle. They are both interested in photography as material, rather than its traditional techniques. Encountering Tillmans’ show at David Zwirner in Hong Kong, I was blown away by the way he transmuted his photographs through his arrangements, responding to space, scale, and among photographs. I am also drawn to Calle’s use of text to weave in personal narratives and autobiographical ideas.

For my exhibition, if a leaf falls (2025), I heavily researched Louise Lawler’s practice, which investigates the afterlife of art objects. Her works expanded my understanding of the possibilities of art documentation as an artistic practice. Recently, I have been looking at writers such as Ocean Vuong for inspiration.

What was one important piece of advice you were given?

Ocean Vuong said this in an interview: No one really saves us in this world, but people give us the tools so that we can transform into our own rescue.

Do you make a living completely off being an artist? Do these activities also inform or affect your practice?

I work as a photographer for the arts, mainly shooting exhibitions and artwork for galleries and institutions, as well as portraiture for artists and arts workers. My approach to documentation is to tease out the interactions among art objects, the exhibition space, and lighting within the frame. The job allows me to frequent galleries, museums, art fairs, studios, and sometimes even storage facilities.

My work is tempered by the needs and wants of my clients, requiring me to understand their perspective towards art. The gallerist’s idea of good documentation might differ greatly from that of the curator. The former tends to favour a set of images showing the number or size of artworks and their relationship with the human scale. While the latter requires me to capture their intentions in the arrangement of art objects within the photographic frame. These modalities of working offer insights into different ways of engaging with art through photography, and the mechanisms that create the “aura” around art objects.

To discuss how my practice intersects with my day job, I think about my encounters with Robert Mapplethorpe’s Flower (1980). As a young student, I studied many of his images through books and finally encountered his prints in 2022 when I was asked to document the show Staging: Mapplethorpe (2022), curated by Clara Che Wei Peh at Appetite in Singapore. Flower hung on a wall between the window and the wine cabinet, near a standing vase with some birds of paradise. I took a picture of this encounter and spent a long time thinking about how the flowers in his frame resonated with the flowers in mine.

It slipped my mind until I attended Art Basel Hong Kong in 2024 for another job. It was closing day for the fair, so there was a flurry of crates, inventory in bubble wrap, and condition checklists beside bottles of water. I finished my job and was exiting the hall when I reencountered Mapplethorpe’s Flower. The photograph sat alone on the wall. Most of the other artworks in the booth had been removed. The drill set sits on the floor in front of it. In that context, the art object took on a new meaning for me, and I took a picture.

“These modalities of working offer insights to different ways of engaging with art through photography, and the mechanisms that create the “aura” around art objects.”

What are approaches that have worked in managing your time between this job and your own practice?

I have been fortunate to have my job and my practice intertwine. My practice was born from the access that was provided in my job. The lines are sometimes rather blurred since the pictures I make for myself can happen whilst I am working for a client. It is therefore helpful to work with clients, collaborators, and artists who allow for the space to experiment or deviate from their briefs.

As a young artist, the opportunities for making shows are modest. My priority is often in paid work so that I can make rent. I take the opportunity during lull periods in commercial work to develop my practice. That said, I have also taken time off to focus on my practice, such as going for the YAHAHA International Residency in Taichung, Taiwan. There, I had the luxury of spending time on myself and learning through the programme without being pressured by deadlines.

Jonathan Tan, if a leaf falls Part 2, 2025, exhibition view at studio ong, Singapore. Image courtesy of the artist. — Jonathan Tan, *if a leaf falls Part 2*, 2025, exhibition view at studio ong, Singapore. Image courtesy of the artist.

Could you talk about your recent solo presentation if a leaf falls? What is a central idea behind the show as well as one challenge you faced preparing for it?

In my experiences with visiting artist studios in professional and personal capacities, I realised that the studio offers a perspective on the artist and their context beyond the function of production. The space paints a portrait of the artist who inhabits it. if a leaf falls is a show that speaks to the networks, intimacies, exchange of ideas, struggles, and joys that I have witnessed within studio spaces.

In 2023, I was invited by Taufiq Rahman to be part of a studio alongside artists such as Rifqi Amirul, nor, Sean Tay, and Juffri Jeffri. In the beginning, the space was meant to be divided so that each artist had a corner, just enough for a table and a shelf. With time, our deepening relationships with each other have allowed the studio space to shift and change. A big part of the work behind this show was understanding how the studio space has functioned for us, becoming an exercise in placemaking for us and our respective communities. Currently, we have restructured the space into one common area that facilitates hosting under the name studio ong.

if a leaf falls was staged in two parts, firstly in a more traditional white cube setting and later within my studio, where many of the pictures were made. I wanted to see how differently the works would look when they were composed within a white gallery space, compared to the studio space where I had to work around the pre-existing furnishing and lighting.

One of the challenges of the show was working with new forms and materials for the first time. As a photographer, my output is mostly digital. Therefore, I had a desire to expand my art practice and to experiment with something physical. For some of the works, I taught myself to engrave on aluminium frames or glass. For other works, I collaborated with a woodworker, Joshua Ram, to develop pseudo-vitrines that hold an object and an image. These methods introduced physicality, depth, and texture which added complex readings to my work. I would love to further explore pushing my practice conceptually and materially.

Could you share your favourite art space or gallery in Singapore? Why are you drawn to that space and what does it offer to you/ your practice

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I spent a substantial amount of time in the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. I loved looking through the books with no research topic in mind. I also greatly appreciate the work of local independent spaces such as dblspce and starch for offering guidance and space to young artists who pass through their doors.

What are your hopes for your own local art scene, and regionally as well?

I hope that we can move away from the notion of criticism as a kind of “feedback” for the sake of it. I do not mean to forgo criticality, but I believe there is a way of engaging with art and responding without trying to “fix” something about the work.

There is a tendency for audiences here to see the glass as half empty, to think of a work’s insufficiencies instead of its offerings. I hope that we can adopt new ways of looking where we pay attention to the artist’s idiosyncratic approaches, concerns or curiosities before thinking about what can be done better. In my experience, that is when the work opens itself to you. This is also a reminder to myself.

Are there any upcoming/ ongoing exhibitions or projects that you would like to share?

I will be doing a residency at dblspace in Singapore, in February 2026, alongside a dear friend, art naming 奇能.

Fresh Face: Jonathan Tan

“These modalities of working offer insights to different ways of engaging with art through photography, and the mechanisms that create the “aura” around art objects.”

Fresh Face: W. Rajaie