Before you read any further, I must confess that every single picture presented in this series is a lie.
I am not the blue-collar worker I present myself to be, even if it may be imagined that all migrants must be so.
I am not the lighter-skinned, only moderately exotic Indian that the altered portraits show, even if potential employers wish it were so.
I am perhaps something in between, a modicum of truth mixed in with a pinch of a fantasy of a better life.
In assimilating abroad, must we forgo the right to retain our basic sense of identity and leave such thoughts at the shores of our homes to succeed?
This work questions how much truth a passport photograph holds.
In investigating this, I explored a well-known phenomenon in East Asia; our photographs are often ‘white-faced’ by studios without being asked.
This raises the question of how truthful these yardsticks of pictorial recognition are.
They do not always present the truth, they are sometimes manipulations intended to improve social standing, from whiter skin to superimposed suits and ties.
I visited several photo studios across the UAE and India in working overalls to have my picture taken. I was white-faced in almost all instances, bar some studios in affluent neighbourhoods. Sometimes suits were superimposed onto my overalls.
The fabric portrait was stitched by hand by an Indian artist who interpreted my skin tone with each thread picked and intertwined.
