By Anabel Costa
Sing Hang Tam considers himself “a person of nowhere,” having lived in Hong Kong, the United States, and Britain. He has always been a passionate creator, and his work ranges from painting to sculpture to photography.
Tam graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in Art in 2016, and this idea of home, humanity, and belonging remains a core thread throughout his artistic work. Tam went on to receive his Masters of Research in Arts and Humanities, and an MA in sculpture at the Royal College of Art.
Tam currently resides in London, and teaches art as an associate lecturer at the London College of Fashion, and as a visiting lecturer at the University of Westminster. He recently sat down with HFA to discuss his art, ideologies, and approach to teaching.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
In his art, UCSB alumnus Sing Hang Tam explores the complexities of human nature.
Q: You have created art in many different mediums, from performance art about freedom, to photographic documentation on the homeless population. Which type of art would you say is your favorite?
A: I don't really have a favorite, because to me what matters is the idea, the concept behind it. Once I get an idea, I will find the best medium to achieve that. I don't really stick with one medium. I don't start with the medium and then get an idea, I start with the idea and then find the best way to do it.
Q: What is your favorite piece that you have created?
A: I’ve never really thought about my favorite. But the things that are at the center of my artistic practice right now, is my documentation art where I did a piece where I photographed and interviewed homeless veterans, and I did a piece on the Hong Kong identity. I’m always investigating the idea of homelessness. The people that have nowhere to go back to.
“Back,” as an idea, is quite important in my art. I am personally always in the middle of something, between identities. I was born in an Asian country, then I went to America for a couple years, and I was born British so I actually went to Britain for the first time in my life after that. And I’m a stranger to all of those cultures. Even if I went back to Hong Kong, nowadays I am an alien to my own culture. And in America people definitely don’t think I’m one of them. In Britain definitely not. The idea of being a person of nowhere, is actually a big part of my identity. The idea of home, the idea of freedom, is the common thread that runs through all my art.
For a 2018 project at the Royal College of Art called “Passing Humans,“ Sing Hang Tam photographed and interviewed homeless veterans. As a “collector of stories,“ Tam chose to document the people who have experienced great transition in their lives.
Q: You are now an associate lecturer at the London College of Fashion, and a visiting lecturer at the University of Westminster. What is your approach to teaching art?
A: There's this one saying that I love, it’s from the author of The Little Prince. He said, if you want a whole city to build a boat, you don't teach them to build a boat. You teach them to long for the other side of the sea. This is what I use. Think about how you became good at something. Most of the answers to that are about practice and reinforcement. Teaching is not about outputting knowledge. What is important is not what to know, but how to think.
This sculpture, “Mr. Freedom,“ was created by Sing Hang Tam in 2015 during his time as an art student at UCSB. It was made with fabrics, cushion, and industrial airbags.
Back at UCSB I was lucky enough to have some very, very good professors. What they did was make me passionate about something. Then I would find the answers myself. With the technology nowadays, finding answers is so easy. I want to stir that inner passion in my students, and then learning is easy. I point at the road and say, “you see? That’s the other side of the sea.”
Q: What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to pursue art professionally?
A: Love it. It’s so very hard to do something that you don’t love. People don’t make art because they want to, they make art because they have to. It’s out of necessity. If you didn’t make something, it would keep you up at night. You have to have that burning desire in you.
Q: You were the first person from Hong Kong to pursue a Masters of Research in Arts and Humanities at the Royal College of Art, and the first Hong Kong person to receive an MA in sculpture there. What was that experience like for you?
A: Yes, I am the first ever Hong Kong person to study in each program. Just look at the art department in any university. How many Asian people do you see there? It’s the whole Asian culture that doesn’t encourage you to pursue a living in art, music, theater - any artistic thing. They always look for you to become an engineer, scientist, accountant. We don't have enough emphasis on how important art is. I went back to my home country, and I had dinner with my aunts, and one of them asked me, “Are you going to be starving to death?” This is how you know that in their eyes, “artist” is not a job. So constantly, I have to prove myself.
My whole life of studying art and becoming an artist, I have been fighting my own culture. I hope that I can encourage more young Asian artists to fight for their own way, not just in art, but in any area.
Sing Hang Tam performed this piece of performance art, “I Am the King,“ twice, once at UCSB in 2015, and once in 2017 in London (above). The work is an exploration of freedom and free will.
Q: In your artist’s statement, you say that human beings are contradictions of themselves; we are at the same time “hateful,” and “lovely,” and you seek to explore this idea in your art. Can you talk more about this idea and how you became interested in it?
A: The core, the main material of my art, is human beings. It’s sort of weird when I say it, because when people say “material,” they usually mean metal, or wood. When they say “medium,” they mean photography, or performance art. But these things don't mean anything to me. As I said, I start with an idea: what is human nature?
You try your best for your whole life to become part of something. And then you realize, in order to answer the question “who am I?” You have to answer the question, “who are we?” And then I kind of paved my way, going into the investigation of human nature. And then you dig deeper and talk about love and freedom, and then you dig deeper and talk about fear and death. And I don’t want to make representations of things - I want to make presentations of things. What I want to do is find a way for art to reveal itself; you don't “make” art, you deliver it.
“Free Thinker“ is a 2015 work of performance art by Sing Hang Tam, made with rope to convey the idea that nobody is ever free, even in their mind, and that a true “free thinker,“ does not exist.
Q: In our politically and racially charged world, do you ever use your art as a form of resistance, or to make political statements?
A: I am a huge believer in personal politics. I think that every single human body is a container of politics. People can say “oh my art is not political,” or “I don’t want to make political things,” but that’s bullshit. Everything is political. There is no way you can make something that is not political. The idea of politics is not the government, it’s how you behave as a reaction to that. For me the idea of politics is a constant fighting between the minority and the majority. In anything - sexism, racism - it’s people who are oppressed, fighting against the people who are in charge. If you ask me whether my art is political, of course. Definitely. 100% It’s political.
Anabel Costa is a third year Theater major at UC Santa Barbara. She is a Web and Social Media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.