The Ordinary People (Like Me) Companion Project explores multiple ideas, including the ways in which our identities and social positions connect us to different social networks. I invited Yaiza López Garcia San Roman and Ryan Joon-Hyun Lee to work with me on this experiment by launching their own portrait projects, starting from their own social networks, which are very different from mine. We were curious to discover how our referral processes might run parallel and how they might diverge. The images and maps found in their online galleries begin to tell that story.
Yaiza’s Biography:
Yaiza López Garcia San Roman is a BFA student at the University of Calgary. Through multiple media, such as photography, sculpture, music, and poetry, she explores themes such as pollution, capitalism, and multiculturality, as well as the aesthetic scope of art. Her most recent photographic project, “Photography: The Art In Your Pocket” asks questions like ‘what is art?’ and ‘can anyone be an artist?’
Yaiza identified her project starting point:
I am a 20-year-old female international student from Spain and Mexico. I have been living off-campus in Calgary since 2019 and became part of a tight-knit friend group who eventually shared housing. I got a job at Walmart as the pandemic started, so the ‘ordinary people’ I was interacting with on a daily basis were my friends, coworkers, my close family back in Mexico, and lots and lots of customers.
Ryan’s Biography:
Ryan Joonhyun Lee is a commercial art photographer based in Calgary, Alberta. His work primarily consists of street photography and environmental fine art portraiture, attempting to seamlessly mix a practice of analog and digital photography methods. He is currently a photographic researcher at the University of Calgary, pursuing a degree in marketing.
Ryan identified his project starting point:
I am a 23-year old Korean man who immigrated to Canada in 2001. I was four when I moved here and since then, I've been fortunate to surround myself with rich Canadian diversity.