Chinese-Canadian photographer Ken Lum (b. 1956) is known for text-based photographs that challenge notions of cultural identity and multiculturalism by exploring interactions of language, kitsch, image, and narrative. All of the ideas explored by Lum are defining characteristics for shareable memes online. This exhibition positions Lum as the father of the meme, with his 1993 38-image “Portrait-Related Text” series functioning as a direct precursor to contemporary memes. Lum’s “Portrait-Related Text” series pairs generic photographs, such as a man in a school hallway, of unidentified people with dialogical texts. The pairings force the viewer to construct a narrative that utilizes both the presented text and image rooted in their own experiences. The tension created in Lum’s photographs mimics tensions felt within the diasporic art community. Noting Homi Bhabha’s text “The World and the Home,” art’s ability in defining identity is forced to be reconsidered in the post-internet era. However, Lum suggests that art simultaneously proves that “within each ‘unhome there is a trace of home somewhere.”[1]


Meme Company chose 12 of the most popular images from Lum’s series “Portrait Repeated Text” series for our Permanent Meme Collection. This online gallery space intends to elevate the value and exclusivity of Lum’s memetic photographs as originals amidst broad distribution of internet memes. The gallery also provides a home for diasporic meme culture to exist uninterruptedly.


Photographs selected from “Portrait-Related Text” are listed below:


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[1] See: Homi Bhabha, “The World and the Home,” “Social Text,” no.31/32 (1992); and Hou Hanru, “Chinatown,” “Art and Asia Pacific,” no. 15 (1997): 62-63


1. Ken Lum, “Give Me My Money Back”, 1993
2. Ken Lum, “Onions, Eggs, Milk”, 1993
3. Ken Lum, “You Don’t Love Me”, 1993
4. Ken Lum, “Cheeseburger”, 1993
5. Ken Lum, “You’re Not Ugly”, 1993
6. Ken Lum, “Hello. How Are You?”, 1993
7. Ken Lum, “Phew, I’m Tired”, 1993
8. Ken Lum, “What is it Daddy?”, 1993
9. Ken Lum, “That’s it, You’re in Pain”, 1993
10. Ken Lum, “I Can’t Believe I’m in Paris”, 1993
11. Ken Lum, “What Am I Doing Here?”, 1993
12. Ken Lum, “I’m So Sorry”, 1993