Past and Present II (2012 - 2015) is a photographic series which mines family albums to examine intergenerational identity construction and the legacy of migration in Canadian families. Starting with archival images of the migrant parents in their country of origin, I work with their children to re-stage the photographs by posing in similar outfits and locations drawn from their current settings.
Presenting these images together enables a comparative examination of the two generations and their surroundings. The pairs reveal striking resemblances that lie not only in the physical features of family members but rather in their tendency to recreate their homes within the new environment, revealing a need to recover familiar points of reference within a new and foreign land. At the same time, the sets heighten our awareness of the cultural gaps between the countries of origin and Canada through equally marked differences from past to present snapshot.
