Tommy Kha

Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Tommy Kha earned a BFA from the Memphis College of Art and later received his MFA in Photography from Yale University. He has been awarded the prestigious Next Step Award, Foam Talent, Creator Labs Photo’ Fund, and most recently named an NYSCA/NYFA Fellow in Photography. 

 

Growing up gay and Chinese American in the American South plays into Kha’s themes about identity and the idea that our sense of who we are can be at once familiar and foreign. While an undercurrent of camp and impassivity runs through much of his work, the scenes he creates are meant to keep us focused on the complex and, at times, emotionally hazardous nature of interpersonal dynamics within families and cultures. 

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Kha’s work has been exhibited at The Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, The High Museum in Atlanta, the Leslie-Lohman Museum in NYC, and most recently, as a participant in the 2023 Tennessee Triennial at the Brooks Museum in Memphis. Kha has had solo exhibitions at Blue Sky Gallery, Camera Club of New York, and Higher Pictures Generation, where he is currently represented. 

 

Half, Full, Quarter, Kha’s first monograph, published by Aperture, was released in February 2023. 

 

He lives and works between New York City and Memphis.