Behind VA Shadows, in partnership with the Harvard Square Business Association and Intercontinental Management, is pleased to welcome artist Joanna Tam’s solo exhibition when blue meets blue, on view from April 13 to May 16, 2026. Drawing from Tam’s personal experience growing up in Hong Kong and moving to the US, the exhibition centers on motifs of the ocean and the sky, which often evoke a wide range of emotions and experiences for migrants. Through a series of photographic works and installations, the artist illuminates the intimate relationship she holds with the ocean while situating this relationship within the broader context of duality, recognizing the violence, trauma, and complexity in nature imposed by human societies.
An interdisciplinary artist whose practice is often conceptual and research-based, Tam responded to the narrow gallery space through a poetic approach as she engaged with the theme of migration. when blue meets blue stems from a collection of photographs that the artist created throughout the years of her artistic practice, bringing together the places where she resides and considers home. Bringing together the ocean of Hong Kong, Boston Harbour, New England, and California, Tam invites viewers to “meditate on the meaning of the ocean” and to “dream as many of us are navigating through precarious times.” Incorporating another layer of artistic media and poetic sensibility, Tam collaborated with blu, a self-taught poet from Ayiti, Haiti, to create a poem for the exhibition. It reads, “the sea stretches far, to catch you,” echoing the sense of comfort expressed by Tam.
In the gallery space, the exhibit unfolds with a variety of visual representations of the ocean; viewers will encounter large and small formats of photographic prints, black and white photocollages of ocean and skyline, photographs with different textural qualities, and poetic words materialized in blue neon light. The myriad of ocean images inhabit the gallery space both pictorially and sculpturally, revealing varying characteristics of water. Drapey, soft chiffon is reminiscent of the wavy and dynamic motion of the ocean, whereas the photographs speak to the constant presence one often associates with the everpresent existence of water. The interplay between stillness and turbulence is mirrored in the spatial arrangement of the works. The level of volume and intensity alternates, punctuated with intentional breaks, always offering room to breathe, pause, and contemplate. Further, the exhibit threads through different visual planes: the chiffon cloth connects the background wall and the foreground plinth, as the poem vinyled on the window surface superimposes onto the background wall. Together, the installation presents a captivating rendering of comfort and freedom evoked by the ocean. At the same time, the familiarity is laden with trauma and tension. For instance, paper planes, as a recurring device in Tam’s work, convey a sense of playfulness in childhood memory which is in close proximity with memories of the ocean; simultaneously, it carries the connotation of surveillance and destruction in our contemporary lives. For Tam, the tension between human atrocities and the beautiful nature is epitomized in people’s relationships with the ocean as she learns more and more about the pathways shaped by water in her research and practice. The ocean is a vessel for precious memories and for painful memories. when blue meets blue marks the beginning of a more in-depth investigation of water and its potential in transformation and resistance.
Tam’s experiences working in different arts spaces, including the artist-run exhibition space, Howard Art Project, and Brant Gallery at MassArt, informed how she chooses to work with people who help her execute, realize, and bring together art exhibitions. Recognizing and being cognizant of different forms of labor involved in art exhibiting, Tam emphasizes showing respect and kindness to cultural workers, which are at the heart of Behind VA Shadows’ ethos of care and support for museum workers. On May 9, when blue meets blue will be accompanied by the public event Meet Me Halfway for craftsmaking hosted by Nami Yami and Josie Natarajan.
