From the left: Me, Brother & Dog, Sister-in-law, Mom, Dad and Sis.
Awhile ago we were invited to participate in photographer John Clang’s ‘Being Together’ project. John Clang is an acclaimed New york-based Singaporean photographer and visual artist. This project draws from John’s personal experience of being separated from his family, and addresses the predicament that is being faced by many Singaporeans who have moved out of Singapore. Together with his team, he visited families in Singapore and abroad, in cities such as London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo to photograph a Family portrait for them with the help of modern technology – Skype.
John visited me at my tiny Tokyo apartment and projected my ‘family’ on my wall while we did a video chat on Skype. It was very surreal to have a mini family gathering in my living room in Tokyo when they were not physically there. My sister happened to be visiting Tokyo during that time so she was with me during the photo shoot. I am glad she was there to lighten the mood and make the photo shoot more fun than emotional. John suggested that we include my works in the portrait and I like how it reveals a part of my life in Tokyo. All in all, it was a very unique and precious experience for us especially since I’ve lived away from my family for about 8 years now. I really appreciate the opportunity to have a family portrait taken together even when we are not in the same country.
‘Being Together: Family & Portraits – Photographing with John Clang’ exhibition starts tomorrow at the National Museum of Singapore. Do drop by this meaningful exhibition if you are in Singapore! You can find more information about the exhibition here.
This project was also featured in the New York Times. You can see the online article here.
P.S. we are on page 3!
Here are some ‘behind the scenes’ pictures from our family portrait photo shoot.
Connected to Skype
Setting up the projector
My beloved Wang-chan. So happy to see her.
My sister trying to entertain my mom who is on the wall
My brother carrying my lovely dog. And his wife on the couch in the background.
Photographer John Clang. RESPECT.
John Clang’s official website: http://www.johnclang.com/
