The second iteration of the Addison’s biannual Bartlett H. Hayes Jr. Prize exhibition presents work by photographer Tommy Kha (b. 1988). With a humorous and poignant touch, Kha examines how we construct belonging and otherness through photography, inventing new models for self-portraiture with a critical eye toward the medium’s long history of absences and erasure. Growing up Chinese-American in Memphis, Kha had often been made to feel he was different. Now as an adult, the artist locates a place for himself, both within the American South and the tradition of photography.
Tommy Kha is the second recipient of the Bartlett H. Hayes Jr. Prize, awarded by the Addison Artist Council (AAC). The AAC builds on the Addison’s nearly century-long commitment to supporting living artists. The museum’s storied history includes many “firsts” with exhibitions, acquisitions, or residencies by such highly regarded artists as Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, Dawoud Bey, Sheila Hicks, Hans Hofmann, Andy Warhol, and Francesca Woodman. The Hayes Prize continues this extraordinary tradition by providing an emerging and/or under-recognized artist their first ever solo show at a collecting museum, along with a publication, acquisition of art for the collection, and an artist’s residency on campus.
