Artist Talk by Enoch Ku, March 13th at Sacramento State’s Hinde Auditorium

Enoch Ku is a photographer who has worked collaboratively with many independent models, brands (notably to me, Fire Wings), and Sac State students. At the beginning of his talk, he passed around a collaboration booklet made with photography students here. Photos within captured dingy corners of the campus, drenched in interesting shadows, with intersecting lines, and signage. I really enjoyed looking at his collaborative creation while listening to his lecture. In his talk, his main thesis was that slow > fast. With any creative endeavor, rushing the results will lead to disappointment, as will high expectations. Ku also wanted to slow his art practice after 5 years of constant long commutes to the Bay Area for gigs/job opportunities. Ku advised us all to lower our standard of what we think ‘art’ means. By doing this, we will see more artful things in our daily lives. By seeing more things that inspire us daily, our creative output will positively reflect this change in perspective. 

Ku’s philosophies really spoke to me, and his photography of ‘mundane’ or ‘boring’ infrastructure struck a chord with me, as this type of photography is something I have begun to do in the last year. I enjoyed learning that he has a photo album full of random ladders that he sees in his life, which is akin to what I have for traffic cones. At the conclusion of his artist talk, he held a group breathing exercise, a body scan meditation, and a room observation exercise. We shared some notable textures, patterns, and details within the Hinde Auditorium after quietly observing and reflecting upon the room. These mindful activities were a perfect way to end the artist’s talk and were a great way to apply these slower observational practices that Ku cites as imperative to his creative process. Once the talk had concluded, I ran into Enoch Ku, and he asked me how I had heard about the artist’s talk. He seemed quite happy that another disciplined student saw and connected to his speech, a student that wasn’t connected to the photography department. Ku is a kind, lighthearted individual who has made an impact on the Sacramento State photography department.