Teresa Eng and Kalpesh Lathigra discuss what it means to explore their heritage and identity through photography.
In this captivating instalment of 1854 Presents, photographers Teresa Eng and Kalpesh Lathigra discuss their experiences making art as the children of immigrants. Eng, a Chinese-Canadian photographer based in London, discusses her project China Dream, which, she describes, emerged from an experience and interrogation of “in-betweenness.” The work – which touches on collectivism and individualism, fetishization and stereotyping, and origins and imaginations – was born out of Eng’s sense of “culture clash.”
Lathigra, a British artist of Indian and East African descent, details his varied career working across different subject matter as both a photojournalist and an independent artist. Flicking through images of his two projects, Lost in the Wilderness and Memoire Temporelle, Lathigra describes the conflict between romanticism of and identification with the subjects he photographs. In a moving discussion, the two go on to discuss discrimination and representation in the photographic industry, Black Lives Matter, and what it means to “yearn” through photographs.
