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Who am I?
Warren Chow is an architect and freelance photographer currently working and living in Manhattan.
about
My grandfather passed away when I was 10. He was a practicing Buddhist and received a proper ceremony in China. The funeral was more celebration than somber. Family and friends performed rituals to guide him into his afterlife. We sat at a long table and ate a vegetarian meal prepared by the monks.
Who am I really?
Conversations were merely sounds, Chinese was foreign to me and translated by tone and expression. Chatter turned into laughter followed by silence. I didn’t get it, and tugged at my mother to explain. The story she told shaped who I am today.
A butterfly landed on the table and a monk explained the significance of the moment. The butterfly was my grandfather’s final farewell to family and friends, sitting there for a few seconds before taking flight. At my young age, it was all very real to me as it remains today.
The story opened new windows of complexity, sadness, cruelty, happiness, love, and most importantly, the beauty of life, where we have the power to blur what is real and what could be real.
Through the work we do, we extrapolate stories and turn them into real works of art. There are those who simply create and there are those who tell stories through creation.