On Transience:
Identity
Moving countries of residence is an exciting yet daunting process. Personally, the imagined ideal of living abroad to living abroad were extremely different experiences. As an individual, who spent most of her life in a country like India, where family units and societal structures and norms hold huge sway over our life and decisions every day, moving into a Western country like the UK where individualism is celebrated and practiced, was a completely new experience and I still believe is a transient process.
The journey of acknowledging this transition was challenging. On some occasions, it was internal turmoil, a series of ineffable emotions. On others, it was discovery of fragments of myself.
However, being isolated in this process only led to more questions.
Questions that I could not find answers for.
Questions that I could not tackle alone.
Questions that were not singular.
I decided to look deeper into this notion of An Identity In-between.
The Inbetween Series
Through Inbetween: Countries & Cultures, I engaged in conversations with other individuals who have been in a similar position. This journey over the past year led me to discover this community of South Asian individuals living and working abroad.
We engaged in candid discussions around transient identities as individuals move to a new country of residence. In this space, the individuals shared some anecdotes from their life and experiences as we make our way through a new space, culture and society. Anecdotes of comfort, belonging and togetherness.
The following individuals kindly shared their stories with me through this journey.
Anahat Kaur
Aparna Ashok
Nayanika Chatterjee
Rathna Ramanathan
Siddhi Gupta
Their contributions were essential in the development of this project.
To read their contributions, please click on their names to follow the link.
We engaged in candid discussions around transient identities as individuals move to a new country of residence. In this space, the individuals shared some anecdotes from their life and experiences as we make our way through a new space, culture and society. Anecdotes of comfort, belonging and togetherness.
The following individuals kindly shared their stories with me through this journey.
Anahat Kaur
Aparna Ashok
Nayanika Chatterjee
Rathna Ramanathan
Siddhi Gupta
Their contributions were essential in the development of this project.
To read their contributions, please click on their names to follow the link.
Familial yet Unfamiliar:
An Archive of Discovery
This project is an ongoing investigation and interrogation into an archive of photographs and slide films that were left behind by my grandfather, Mr. Sushil Kumar Ghosh. It is dominated by images of his life and travels between 1969 to 1971 when he resided in Iserlohn, Germany.
‘Well, if I feel so strongly about the transitory nature of my identity while living in London in the year 2020, I’m sure my grandfather must have felt the same!’, I often reaffirm myself. Probably influenced under a bias of familiarity, I believe there is a sense of contemporaneity in between our narratives. Through this investigation, I hope to discover more about him and his experience living abroad.
The archive of images facilitates me to find some clues about his life, environment and probable interests. At the same time, I often find myself lost, while observing individuals who exist in these images and remain inaccessible and unknown. Through Familial yet Unfamiliar, I wish to share the information I have gathered from my research about him and his time abroad. Even though many gaps remain, I request viewers to engage with his story and help me fill them.
‘Well, if I feel so strongly about the transitory nature of my identity while living in London in the year 2020, I’m sure my grandfather must have felt the same!’, I often reaffirm myself. Probably influenced under a bias of familiarity, I believe there is a sense of contemporaneity in between our narratives. Through this investigation, I hope to discover more about him and his experience living abroad.
The archive of images facilitates me to find some clues about his life, environment and probable interests. At the same time, I often find myself lost, while observing individuals who exist in these images and remain inaccessible and unknown. Through Familial yet Unfamiliar, I wish to share the information I have gathered from my research about him and his time abroad. Even though many gaps remain, I request viewers to engage with his story and help me fill them.