Not too long ago, I stumbled upon an Instagram account created by my friend and her family. It was an intimate archive preserving the legacy and photographic mastery of her grandfather, K. Huang. The analogue photographs truly had me in awe – I was instantly captivated by the life they had behind those mere frames; they were time capsules in themselves.
“These photos were taken by your grandfather?” I asked, shockingly. Clearly at that point of time, I still did not know the league he was in.
And because even Google yielded no results, I shelved the search for a while. Eventually, fate led me back to the Instagram page, where my curiosity was reignited. From that moment, I was determined to delve deeper into this hidden story.
And true enough, following a more extensive discussion with her uncles, the sons of the photographer, I discovered that K. Huang belonged to Singapore's pioneering generation of artists and photographers. He was a figure not widely recognised in the local context but undoubtedly deserving of greater acknowledgment. I proceeded on to interview his youngest son, Elmer Wee, to find out more about his dad’s journey.
This is the untold story of a family's quest to preserve the photographs of a beloved family member, who also happens to be one of Singapore’s pioneering generation of photographers.
K. Huang (June 8, 1914 – May 12, 1996) was a renowned photographer whose photographs revolved around the lives of people in Southeast Asia – including Singapore, where he lived.
During his younger days, he was working as an editor in Nanyang Siang Pau. “He actually started as a hobbyist while he was having a full time job in the newspaper. He was working in Nanyang Siang Pau until the 1970s when Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh merged into Lianhe Zaobao. Then he left and became a full-time photographer. That was how he started his full-time photography career,” Mr. Wee says.
Over the course of the photographer's career, he actively participated in numerous international photographic salon competitions, achieving notable success with several wins in countries such as London and Spain.
I think his character is very introverted, he’s not so good at socialising with his friends. But he is quite close to his artist friends, especially pioneering artists like Liu Kang and Yeh Chi Wei.
He was also good friends with some of Singapore’s famed first-generation Nanyang artists such as the founding member of Singapore Art Society, Liu Kang, visual artist, Yeh Chi Wei, Nanyang Style painter, printmaker and sculptor, Lim Yew Kuan and Western painter, Lim Mu Hue. Lang Jingshan, Chinese photojournalist and founder of China Photography Association, was also a friend of his. Despite it all, he was still a very low key photographer and was not widely known in Singapore. “I think his character is very introverted, he’s not so good at socialising with his friends. But he is quite close to his artist friends, especially pioneering artists like Liu Kang and Yeh Chi Wei. They were quite close to him. They used to travel together to Indonesia, Malaysia, various parts of Malaysia especially, to take photographs while they did their paintings. I believe he was the only photographer following this group of artists,” Mr. Wee shares.
Most of his photographs showcase captivating black and white Southeast Asian scenes, as well as intimate portraits of civilians. His photographs captured the subjects in their element beautifully.
He believes in life, people’s lives.
When asked what his dad’s favourite subject to shoot was, Mr. Wee answered, “He believes in life, people’s lives. He takes photographs of people at work, on the farms and at sea. On the other hand, he was also very engaged in the Singapore theatre art scene. I remember Hwa Chong Drama Society, as well as another pioneering local mandarin art group, used to engage him to take photographs.”
A huge bulk of his photographs are mainly taken in black and white. “At that time, there were only colour slides and black and white. And he believed in black and white. The camera he used is a 120mm camera. This (120mm Rolleiflex) is the camera he left behind, and it is also the camera he shot many photos on. He liked such cameras, that's why he bought me a similar one that is also 120 format. I still keep the cameras with me until now for memory’s sake,” he shares.
He was also the first photographer to print photos on fabric paper back in the 1970s. “I think one of the breakthroughs for him is during his second exhibition where he printed black and white photos on fabric itself. It was even enlarged into a five-foot photo. This is something no one has done before during that time, he was the first,” Mr. Wee recounts.
K. Huang has held two exhibitions locally and was actually the very first Singaporean photographer to do a solo show in Victoria Theatre in 1959 and 1970. The exhibition was entitled People’s Life Photo Exhibition (人民生活影展). “Both photography exhibitions attracted quite a lot of attention locally. Some ministers like the late S. Rajaratnam, the late Lee Khoon Choy, as well as retired politician Ho Kah Leong and the late Phua Bah Lee were some of the patrons in these two exhibitions,” Mr. Wee shares.
Mr. Wee also takes interest in photography and practises it on his own as well. And it goes without saying that this interest was highly influenced by his father. “I used to see him carrying his camera around with his group of artist friends to take photographs. They went to Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia. I was quite keen to follow but he told me I was too young. Until I was in secondary school, about 14 years old, he bought me my first camera, made in China, Hai Ou Seagull. That was the very first one and after that I followed him out every Sunday to various places in Singapore. That was when I went out with him until 1975 [when] he fell sick,” he shares fondly.
We value all of his photographs. We even framed some up as memories.
Out of the stacks and stacks of these breathtaking photographs, the family lightheartedly says that choosing a favourite is almost impossible. “We value all of his photographs. We even framed some up as memories. And I think if we had to choose, we really like the photographs that he took at sea,” he shares.
Follow the Instagram run by their family to archive K. Huang's amazing photographs here.
