These are a few selected images from a series of about forty family portraits utilizing Skype technology to do live recording of Singaporean family members and project them across continents.
In this series, webcam was used to do live recording of families in Singapore. The recording was then transmitted via Skype to cities such as New York, Tokyo & Hong Kong and projected onto the living spaces of the portrait sitters who are living overseas.
Drawing upon my own experiences of being separated from my family as a New York-based Singaporean, this work documents and examines our condition of new-wave diaspora – Singaporean families of various races and ethnicities grappling with the same predicament of separation through time and space.
The eventual result is a portrait done not exactly as a document of the process. It was done in such a way because of my belief that photo medium can express beyond pictorial statement. I want the image to show the emotion longings, reflecting the diaspora condition we experience and most importantly to mark the time of our current timing of existence.
Technology progression being used in these images is merely as a marking of 'when we are' rather than a highlight of 'what we can'. To look back at these images 50 years from now will possibly hold an interesting view and discourse.
I had also deliberately narrowed down the families to be all Singaporeans, allowing more focus analysis and comparison to be formed with these various families living in a similar society. I am hoping to see this work to provide continuing and additional dialogues for current and future historians/curators.