PAST EXHIBITION ARCHIVE
Cherish: Chinese Families
in Britain
Includes hands-on
interactives and activities.
23 September 2006 - 11 March
2007
Studio Gallery
Admission free
Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund
Family
Trail (downloadable PDF)
An exhibition exploring photographic
family portraits and the family album. Featuring work from the
National Portrait Gallery Collection, and new work by Chinese
families from across the UK.
Traditionally the family has
been the most important unit in Chinese society and culture,
and in China this is often still true. But what about Chinese
families living in Britain? How have their family values been
integrated into, or influenced by, British culture? In Cherish:
Chinese Families in Britain Chinese families from London,
Manchester and Glasgow have worked with three professional photographers
to explore these themes.
Using the National Portrait Gallery
collection, the participants have also explored how families
are represented in family portraits, and how we document our
own families in family albums. Displayed alongside the new work
by the participants and Chinese photographers are works from
the National Portrait Gallery collection, which reveal a range
of ways that the family is portrayed. From the austere and formal
19th century portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti
and their family, to the intimate photograph of Laurence Olivier,
Joan Plowright and their infant Richard.
Developed in partnership with
the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester, Cherish has evolved
out of three-community based projects, led by: Pamela So, working
with families in Glasgow; Yan Preston, working with families
in Manchester; and Anthony Lam with families in London. The resulting
exhibition is a diverse celebration of family and cultural history.
Each family has brought a different
approach, and their own perspective to the project. For many
of the families, food and allotments were a recurring theme central
to family life, and Chong's family in Glasgow have been represented
by the installation of a potting shed, decorated with photographs
of his Malaysian Chinese family.
In recent years digital photography
has expanded the concept of the family album. The Ang family
use digital photography to document the important journey back
to their roots in Malaysia.
Many of the families have enjoyed
exploring old family photographs and considering their own heritage.
In Manchester the Lee family have created a timeline of their
family history using intriguing original family photographs,
and the Lam family have interpreted the brief by building a 3D
family tree complete with branches and leaves.
In London, families from the
Soho Family Centre have used postcards to take us on a journey
to their version of a traditional British seaside holiday in
Clacton. One of the fathers, a Chinese chef, has cleverly used
the food in his restaurant as a metaphor for the family and Chinese
family values.
Cherish has provided a unique
opportunity for the Chinese community to represent themselves
within a national gallery. The families have all worked with
leading Chinese photographers who have given them the skills
and confidence to document their own lives. This is a really
important exhibition as it presents a realistic glimpse of Chinese
contemporary life in Britain and draws our attention to the similarities,
and differences, between these families and our own.
Sarah Champion, CEO,
of the Chinese Arts Centre
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