Ann Woo was born and raised in Hong Kong. She received her BA in Design from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and completed a certificate program at the International Centre of Photography in 2008. Her work has been exhibited internationally including at Camera Club (New York), Chelsea Art Museum (New York), Museum of Chinese in America (New York), Higher Pictures (New York), Philips de Pury (London), Scope Art Shows (Basel), NADA art Fair (Miami). Her work has also been published in The Collector’s Guide to New Photography by Humble Arts Foundation, Layflat, Background Noise, IMA in Japan, Monthly Photography in South Korea, and among others. Her work is permanently held in Zabludowicz and Tischman Speyer Art Collections.
In the ‘Playing Cards’ series, I utilize a basic motive in the composition of playing cards – concealing information – to illustrate the impossibility of seeking meaning in photographs. By photographing backsides of the cards, I focus only on the nuances of the card patterns. Popular legends has it that designs of playing cards have religious, astrological or metaphysical significance while others claim these interpretations are jokes made to conceal the true intention of gambling. In the most straightforward way, these images of playing cards hint that the attempt to interpret meaning in photographs is also a joke.