Presence

Venue: Leica Gallery Los Angeles

Exhibition: Broad Strokes IV

Body of Work: Presence

Curated by: Paris Chong

Location: Los Angeles, California

Date: March 2026

Presented Works: 12 Black & White Portraits

Project Overview : Presence is a body of work consisting of twelve black and white portraits of musicians, exploring the quiet moments that exist beyond performance.

Presented at Leica Gallery Los Angeles as my individual body of work within Broad Strokes IV, the exhibition reflects more than a decade of photographing artists around the world. Rather than focusing on performance or celebrity, Presence invites viewers into moments of stillness, vulnerability, and authentic human connection.

The exhibition also included an Artist Talk, offering an opportunity to share the stories behind the photographs and the relationships that made these moments possible.

Artist Statement : Presence is what remains when noise falls away. Each portrait captures a moment of stillness. Shared, unguarded, and human.

Presence is not something that can be directed or staged. It emerges in stillness , in the brief moment when a subject becomes fully available to themselves.

I photograph people across cultures, professions, and geographies, meeting each with the same gaze.

By working in black and white, I strip the image of excess and hierarchy, allowing the human presence to take precedence.

What remains is not identity or narrative, but connection.