Chatting about Art with Megan Leung, an Interview by Cristina Basgan

Megan is an Arts and Performance Studies major from Hong Kong with a keen interest in art history and art theory. She moved to Vancouver 9 years ago and is currently in her last semester of university. In her childhood, she enjoyed the visual arts, but has since transitioned into expressing herself through digital mediums. She practices photography in her free time, taking photos of architecture, landscapes, and nature. After graduation, she hopes to work in an art gallery and continue to pursue her interest in the art world.

Q: Why do you make or study art, be it for school or yourself?

A: In terms of school, I’ve always been into drawing, but drawing is hard because in a professional field it’s difficult to make a living off of. In terms of analyzing artworks and the background of a piece of art, that is [...] easier to realistically find a job. I guess that’s why I decided to take this major. What made me become more interested was, in my first year, I took an art history course that really inspired me to analyze and get to know the narrative behind a piece of art. For photography, I’ve always loved travelling. Whenever I had the opportunity to travel, I would always be taking photos, exploring areas around the world, and engaging in the culture and the food.

Q: Do you feel like taking photos while travelling makes you more active in the experience? Do you feel like you understand the place better if you try to capture it in a picture?

A: Yes, I do feel like taking photos when I travel makes me more proactive and enjoy my time there. I tend to look back at photos I took, especially this year since the pandemic has changed everything. I feel like through photography I can capture the culture through the architecture, people, and food. I can easily understand a place by looking and taking photos.

Q: Since you were talking about the art course you took, what’s your favorite artwork?

A: I don’t have a favorite artwork, but I do have a favorite artist. Her name is Yayoi Kusama and she is a Japanese artist. I feel like with Japanese artworks you can see a lot of the culture and history behind a piece of art. I like modern pieces, [they are] more vibrant, and I’m drawn to them more, the colors, the shapes, and linear figures, compared to something like Renaissance paintings, [which is] harder to read or understand. 

Q: How do you interpret modern art then?

A: For me, it’s more about the use of color, lines, shapes, and the formal structure, the medium they use. It’s more up to date, whereas referring back to Renaissance painting, that’s more skilled.

Q: That’s an interesting thing to point out. I feel like that’s the reason I’ve heard people discredit modern or contemporary art, because it takes less skill so to speak. Do you think art has to be inherently difficult to create? Can anybody make art?

A: I think  anyone can make art but to me there’s no definite answer to what art is. To me, it is the experiences and cultural influences that define what art is. I do not think art has to be difficult to create, it all comes down to how an individual wants to express their emotions and experiences.

Q: What’s your creative process like?

A: In photography, my creative process is trying to see things from a different perspective, [...] what works and what doesn’t. You know how you take ten thousand photos [...] and you only choose one of them? I feel like it’s more [...] trial and error than anything.

Q: So what kind of situations do you take photos in?

A: I mainly do architecture photography, buildings, taking photos from a different angle, focusing on a particular corner, or a particular area and narrowing it down, rather than seeing the whole scale, the bigger picture. The people in the photos say a lot of the character [of the place], how or why it’s been shot. So for example the Gastown clock, it’s such a tourist spot, where everyone roams around it. I would take pictures from a distance to see how there are many people crowded around the clock instead of focusing on the clock itself.

Q: I see, to showcase the relationship between people and the architecture around them. What’s your favorite place to photograph, be it in Vancouver or somewhere else?

A: In Toronto, there’s this alley that’s all dedicated to graffiti. Once I even saw an artist who was painting on the wall. Seeing the process, how they do what they do, that’s interesting to me because each graffiti piece is different. They all have their own story and experience.

Q: Alright, I only have one more question for you. What’s your favorite photo you’ve taken so far?

A: I would say [...] it would be in the floating market in Bangkok, because of the way the photo represents the people and the culture, the vibrant colors. This demonstrates the different class status in the city. Their class status does not matter since they are content with what they have. They seem to be very proud of their culture and identity being from Thailand.