Khim Hipol is a Filipino artist who immigrated to Canada in 2015; He is currently a first-year student at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. He also holds his Certificate of Photography from Emily Carr University of Arts and Design. He will be pursuing a Bachelor in Fine Arts, major in Visual Arts—Photography. At present, he gives back to his art community as an active volunteer at the North Vancouver School District, Gordon Smith Gallery—Artist for Kids, and The Polygon Gallery. His work has been exhibited locally; he recently exhibited in a group show at the Plaskett Gallery in New Westminster (2019). In 2017, he was part of The Polygon Gallery “Chesterfield Projects,” and in the same year exhibited in the Gordon Smith Gallery—Artist for Kids, where his photograph was featured at North Shore News.
Body, Identity, Culture and Narrative and their affects profoundly impact our contemporary culture today. In our current times, we are bee driven by curiosity and wonder. I find myself in the same situation a does inspire my photographic works. Using lens-based media as my preliminary idea, I explore how the visual representation of a human subject shapes our interpretation of one another. Effects will become spectacular; people might connect or disconnect.
My work ranges from the context of personal narrative with interest in incorporating my Filipino and embraced Canadian Culture into my photographs. Often focusing on the power and the rituals needed for its effect, or evoking the traditional distancing of the supplicant by those in power, giving voice to those who are often unheard and providing a platform for the unseen revealing the power of someone’s beauty through photographic media. My work allows various forms of intentions to encourage my viewers as co-author and witness, create a new unpredictable cycle of thoughts and association, providing an experimental chance to challenge one’s observation, perspective and interpretation, provoking a participant into the world of unknown.