One Last Take and We Can All Go Home
Kayee C solo show
16 Feb - 25 May 2026
Mon-Fri 9am to 7pm
Millepiani Gallery
via Nicolo Odero, 13, 00154 Roma RM, Italy
Opening reception on Friday 13 March at 7pm
About this exhibition
Kayee C is a fine art photographer born and raised in Hong Kong, currently living in France. She creates works by assembling her self-portraits to explore human relationships, particularly the tension between our desire for fusion, social acceptance, and our need for individual realisation. Her practice offers a critical, offbeat, and sometimes poetic perspective on the way we relate to each other.
Characters staged in her portraits range from complete strangers and coworkers to family members and even figures resembling deities. They struggle to balance societal expectations with their desire to be themselves. Out of phase with the pursuit of an appearance of cohesion, they seem to be constantly negotiating who they are supposed to be, while being unable to leave the scene.
In this exhibition, each character appears mid-scene, suspended in a moment they did not choose and cannot leave. The promise of “one last take and we can all go home” implies collective compliance and fleeting reward, yet quietly erases individual agency. All characters are performed by the artist and assembled into a single frame, collapsing distinctions between director and actor, enforcer and subject, witness and accomplice. There is no specific place or event depicted, only a condition: the normalised pressure to stay, to finish, to endure just a little longer.
Hotel No Title #4 (2024)
This was quite a random take I made during a stay in a Parisian hotel, where I decided to simply execute whatever came to my mind within less than 24 hours, with no prior planning. I did bring a few outfits and props like this toy gun.
I believe contraints are the best stimulation to creativity. The process of actively looking for solutions to materialise imagination is exciting enough on its own. Often it is worth more than the end products.
Family Resemblance #2 (2020)
Reinterpreting Caravaggio's "Salome with the Head of John the Baptist" (1609), this photo explores family dynamics. Unhealthy interactions within a family can result in attachment styles that some individuals need decades to untangle, before they can break through a cycle of pain.
Family Resemblance #3 (2020)
Reinterpreting Caravaggio's "Salome with the Head of John the Baptist" (1607/1610), this photo explores family dynamics. The way some toxic family members are harmful can be so implied and hidden in seemingly trivial interactions. It can take decades for an individual to even realise. Often the deepest wounds in a family are those that take no physical form at all.
INFERNO - Bullshit Jobs (2022)
From an on-going series that I’ve been working on for several years, about a woman’s accidental trip to hell. I want the protagonist to bump into dramatic or absurd scenes that make her question her own existence, as well as how the society is being run.
INFERNO - Bystander (2022)
From the same serious about hell. The focus is on the protagonist’s confused reaction while being a silent witness of something seemingly awful that’s about to happen.
INFERNO - Middle Standard (2023)
Absurdity is sometimes the most solemn reaction to things that go way beyond our tolerance. Imagine being grabbed by several strangers, pushed to the table, just for another stranger to measure how long your middle finger is. All this for that. Seriously, what the actual heck?
INFERNO - Tiny Strangers (2024)
When in hell, you bump into a group of mini you living as worms and having a good time. Now, who’s the miserable one?
Hotel No Title #2 (2023)
During a short trip in Brussels, I decided to create with what I had in my backpack: a toy gun and a stack of movie prop money. What results is quite an intriguing scene. Make sure you look at every corner.
Hotel No Title #3 (2023)
This was shot during another trip in Europe, where I stayed in a hotel with a lot of large scale and pixelated prints of forest and greenery, that were a bit harsh to my eyes. It happened that the indoor plant was also fake. Therefore, of course, I had to strike a pose to match all this.
Stuff! (2023)
Stuff, useless stuff. There are plenty of this on the planet.
Hotel No Title #1 (2021)
Another take in another Parisian hotel, where I freely followed the flow of fleeting images in my mind. As a very visual person, I come across thousands of imaginary scenes a day. Between what I have in my mind and what I end up making, there is always a gap. It is because of how imagination takes shape during the execution phase, through my body in the real world.
What the Actual Heck? (2021)
Yes, this feeling, often, daily, even several times a day. I sincerely recommend taking breaks from the news whenever you can.
Have Enough Friends (2018)
This was one of the very early works I made with my own images. I must have realised, whether consciously or unconsciously, that using my own body could help me tell endless stories about social life.
I Love Team Building #1 (2020)
Inspired by "The Musicians" of Caravaggio, this photo is a humorous take on how certain groups place the superficial appearance of cohesion way above each individual's personal contribution. The characters cannot help but disengage completely from the group activity they are supposed to be doing. I hope they at least get paid for that.
I Love Team Building #4 (2021)
Loosely inspired by “Supper at Emmaus” of Caravaggio, it is another personal take on human’s desire to dominate and exert control on others, even when it is absolutely unnecessary or even blatantly counterproductive.
Family Resemblance #1 (2019)
Inspired by "Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber" of Juan Sánchez Cotán, with humour, this photo explores love, hatred and indifference in close relationships, and how all this can happen at the same time.
I Love Team Building #3 (2021)
Loosely inspired by "The Incredulity of Saint Thomas" of Caravaggio, this photo is another personal take on human’s desire to dominate and exert control on others. Different reactions can be seen here, including doubt, submission and disdain. I bet you sometimes feel all of this too.
I Love Team Building #2 (2021)
Another work inspired by "Dinner at Emmaus" of Caravaggio, this photo depicts the deep desire of some of us to simply disengage from forced interactions for the sake of creating an image of cohesion and harmony. I often wonder how each individual hangs on to the rat race in their own way.
The Taking of All of Us (2019)
Inspired by "The Taking of Christ" of Caravaggio, this photo talks about the objectification of our image that is further reinforced by ourselves when we accept criteria of beauty and success sold to us via the manipulation of our insecurities. Cruelty between us sometimes resides in the peer pressure to comply with certain standards.
I Wish There Was Popcorn (2019)
Inspired by “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” of Rembrandt, this photo attempts to provide a critical view on social trends and aesthetics that seem to weigh on women. In a sense, women are also participating in this trend by judging their peers based on the same set of beauty standards. Does all this make us happier and healthier?
Sisters (2019)
Loosely inspired by the portrait of Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters by unknown artist.