8 Stories was commissioned by the British Library and was displayed as part of the Chinese and British exhibition during 2023. The series continued on to the University of Cambridge where it was exhibited during 2024. The portrait of Ching He Huang has been acquired for the permanent art collection at the University of Cambridge.
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When people ask where I am from, I reply ‘I am English’, anticipating the follow up question ‘Where are you really from?’
I am a British born Chinese photographer. I was born in London, but grew up in a village in Bedfordshire. With no extended Chinese community in the area, far from feeling culturally isolated, I felt no different from everyone around me. This was my home and its influence is intrinsically part of who I am. Whilst I may never have been Chinese enough, or English enough to some, these questions of identity seem less polarised today. As society grows more used to a multicultural landscape, the need to define identity through ethnic heritage alone has lessened.
The title of the show, 8 Stories, references the number eight, considered a lucky number in Chinese cultures. The first story is my own and the subjects of the seven portraits all have some relevance to my own history. Whilst the UK’s Chinese communities are mainly concentrated in towns and cities, I was interested in telling the stories of other Chinese people who have forged an identity away from metropolitan life. I have sought to capture individuals of Chinese heritage who, like myself, identify with being part of more than one culture.
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Mark Nam
‘More tea, Vicar?’ An oh-so familiar and typically English phrase uttered in parishes like mine. And yet I am not your typical English parish priest. I am Chinese too. But can I be both? If something as quintessentially English as tea can have Chinese origins, then surely a priest can too. If Christ has promised to reconcile all things unto himself, then surely even that which is East and that which is West can find wholeness and a fullness of expression in Him. This is the hope I hold onto. My name is Mark Nam. I am a British-born Chinese priest in the Church of England.
Ching-He Huang MBE
I have always been a lover of the beautiful British countryside. Being a country farm girl, brought up
in southern Taiwan and then on a farm in Apartheid South Africa in my early years, being in nature has always made me feel free. Now, I live in the UK and I adore the long forest walks and foraging in my local areas. It rejuvenates me and replenishes my soul. Sometimes solutions to challenges I’m trying to solve find their way into my consciousness. I do feel as though all the answers can be found in nature. As I grow older, being in nature is what makes the most sense.
Qu Lei Lei
My project Silence and Screaming started with carving human-like wooden sculptures from a found set of Victorian skittles. These skittles represent humanity: relentlessly being knocked over, violently, needlessly and by political systems, wars and greed. The project has grown and now I add to the collection, making my own skittles from natural wood foraged from the forest floor near to my home in the UK. In China, I was one of the founding members of the Stars Art movement in the late 1970s. We staged our work without permission, campaigning for freedom of expression and producing the first contemporary Chinese art.
Annie Ho
I am a 4* international event rider representing Hong Kong. I was born in Hong Kong but have grown up here in the UK, in Surrey. Throughout my career, I’ve competed at the Asian Games and the Asian Championships, where I won gold in 2013. All through my younger years, I was the only Chinese rider in my area but I was an active member of my local pony club branch in Wimbledon. After school, I took up riding professionally and am still living the dream.
Eric Cui Wu
I was born and raised at the foot of the Cascade Mountains, the child of Chinese immigrants who came to the US for a better life. I hiked the many trails which dotted my backyard, growing intimately familiar with the dense evergreen forests which enveloped my home, and always grew to love the beauty of nature. When I immigrated to London alone at 18, also to seek a better life, I found a familiarity in the forest and trails of Box Hill. Each time I come out and smell the morning dew, I am reminded of home I left behind, and of the new home I’ve found here in the UK.
Ruby Peng
I grew up in Singapore and only experienced living in cities before moving to the UK. I remember the first time I had a proper experience of a village. It shocked me that people grew up so differently, since the big city life was all I had ever known. As an urban, city-dwelling Chinese person who had only seen skyscrapers and the very fast-paced life, I am fascinated by the slow pace of countryside living. I also enjoy expressing my adoration towards the countryside life through fashion, specifically the ‘cottagecore’ aesthetic that celebrates simple living, particularly in the countryside.
Angela Hui
I’ve been living in London for almost a decade and whenever someone finds out that I’m Welsh I always jokingly say I’m on the wrong side of the Severn Bridge. Growing up, I felt the polar opposite and I so desperately wanted to escape the sleepy nowheresville. As a bored, rebellious teenager who grew up in a Chinese takeaway in the countryside, I took the beautifully bleak abandoned coal mines and the lush rolling green hills that were on my doorstep for granted. I constantly crave corned beef pasties, I long for Welsh folk to stop and natter to me in the street and I miss being able to spot sheep in the distance. That to me, is the green, green grass of my home.
