"Lum uses his art to express his dissatisfaction with the world"

The Scotiabank Photography Award is a large one and mostly gets it right, awarding the prize to artists of depth and integrity, as opposed to only those who can operate an expensive camera.

This year's recipient is Ken Lum, whose Canadian Press write-up (as seen in the Globe & Mail) has something in common with the artist's own aggressively matter-of-fact style. Rather than hear who the jurors are, we hear from them anonymously, en masse:

"Prize organizers say Lum uses his art to express his dissatisfaction with the world."

That line might please Lum, though it depends on what mood he's in, who's pointing it out to him.

Then there's the cutline below his picture:

"Ken Lum, of Vancouver, is seen in an undated handout photo."

To me, there's something dismissive about the cutline. But Lum, a former student of counter-narrator par eminence Jeff Wall, might see it otherwise: an honest expression using the most basic -- and truthful  -- elements. For it is true: his name is Ken Lum, he is from Vancouver (though he has been living and working in Pennsylvania for over ten years now), he is seen in the photo, which, if it is without a date, should say so, and that it is a publicity photo, though captured with a digital camera, not the old analogue job, so not technically a photograph but a picture, a picture of the artist with one breast button open, the other closed.