📸For Your 👀 Only:

AN ESCAPE INTO WHIMSY

We spoke with KangHee Kim, the photographer behind the popular Instagram account @tinycactus which features playful photo collages. The account started as a personal project called "Street Errands" in 2016, and led to collaborations with brands and showings in museums. Kim's work is also represented by Benrubi Gallery in New York.

How did you get into photography?

KangHee Kim: I got into photography by playing around with an iPhone camera and Instagram [in my] third year in college. I started out taking lots of quirky street photos. Then I was intrigued to learn more about photography. I was a painting major and I took a few photo classes before I graduated from college. I loved painting but I realized studio practice was a bit too static for me. I found out treating photography as a painting is the way that works for me perfectly.

@tinycactus

What is your process like?

My process is pretty intuitive. I go out to take photos without thinking that I am going to collage most of the time. I focus on each frame without planning ahead. I have a big archive of photos from scenery and street photos. I go through them on my computer and mix and match those images. It is the most exciting part for me that lets me be in the space want to be in.

What photographers and artists influence your work?

I like Wolfgang Tillmans’ work.

@tinycactus

Your work features a lot of whimsical clouds —what first drew you to clouds?

I love their versatile quality. I am especially drawn to the shapes and movements of the clouds. My favorite clouds are cumulonimbus, which signals an upcoming storm. They may look all similar in general yet they appear in distinctive shapes throughout the day. Clouds are symbolic of the fleet of time. I love capturing them [in] moments in time which makes me appreciate [the] mundane.

What do you want people to get out of this work?

I’d like people to feel what comes to their mind from their own experiences. I feel therapeutic making these images.

Do you have a favorite image that you've taken recently?

This one: