Daily Bread: Yee-Fun Yin

April 24 to April 29, 2009

The photographs by Connecticut artist Yee-Fun Yin, on display at the Mark W. Potter Gallery, are from the series "Daily Bread" made in the summer of 2008. Daily Bread is a study of life on five working farms in the Woodbury and Watertown area. These images are inspired by real places and real people.

"There are universal truths about their chosen livelihood: the business of farming is taken seriously and spans generations," Yee-Fun says. "The work and commitment demanded of the farmers are daily and are continually subjected to the powers of nature.

"The fact that there is disconnect between the foods we eat and the farmers who have produced them is what the photographs from Daily Bread address. The images provide a visual meaning and a connection with the producers.

"The black-and-white photographs in Daily Bread are made on film and printed digitally. The sense of timelessness that the traditional film renders, using a large format 4x5 inch camera, helps to remind us of the long tradition of agriculture in our society. The immediacy that digital captures offer in the color photographs speaks to us about color images are digital photographs reference the modernity and reality of today’s farm life."

Acknowledgement: I wish to thank Dorothy Largay and Wayne Rosing for The Largay Faculty Support Fund which made Daily Bread possible; Chris Torino for administering the professional development program with insight; Loueta Chickadaunce for her most generous time and support, without which this exhibition would not have taken place.

Biography

Yee-Fun Yin, American
Born: Laos, 1958
Residence: Woodbury, CT

Yee-Fun joined the Taft faculty in 2007 as photography teacher. He has a B.A. from Yale and received his M.F.A. in photography from the University of Hartford Art School in 2005. Yee-Fun is also an adjunct professor of photography at Gateway Community College in New Haven.

An active photo-based artist with a focus on documentary and civic portraiture, Yee-Fun’s work is featured frequently in regional exhibitions. Connecticut has been home to Yee-Fun for more than thirty years and he lives in Woodbury. He is a member of Photo Arts Collective, of the Council of the Arts in New Haven, the Westport Arts Center, and the Washington Arts Association.

A list of solo and group exhibitions may be viewed at www.yeefunyin.com