From the Same Circle

I came across Bravo Ko after spending time with Chih Hsien Chen’s photographs from Taiwan, and it turns out they’re not just from the same city—they’re in the same friend circle. That kind of proximity, where artists are actually living and working together instead of performing for an audience, is what makes the work feel alive.

This is where the critics always show up. They say this isn’t art, just hipsters with cameras, another Ryan McGinley clone, nothing new or useful or surprising. They’ve been saying that for years about the photography I publish on this blog. And they’re not wrong that some of it is derivative. But they’re missing something.

I love these photographs because they’re direct and unfiltered and true. They’re documenting what it actually feels like to be young and creative right now—in Taipei, in New York, in Berlin, wherever. There’s a defiance running through all of it, a refusal to perform for institutions or press releases. That’s consistent across continents. That’s the movement.

Bravo Ko is part of that movement. I’ll keep showing work like this as long as I’m able. Not because it’s revolutionary or because I need to defend anything. Just because it matters.