
Ho Tam
Western imperialism requires an ideological substrate, a web of signifiers that establishes illusions of ethnic and cultural superiority. A Canadian immigrant from Hong Kong, Ho Tam has been attuned for decades to the accompanying stereotypes permeating North American mass media, his observations on which culminated in four projects made between 1993 and 2020 that are currently on view at Paul Petro Contemporary Art.
Tam’s artist’s books, magazine, video, and set of prints are formal variations on a single theme and structure: All include twenty-six components corresponding to the English letters