Another photographer whose work deals with questions about identity and memory, mapping ancestral narratives through history and heritage is that of Max Kandhola.

Born and raised in Birmingham, Kandhola is a fine art photographer and Course Leader of Photographic Studies at Nottingham Trent University. His most recent book is Flatland: A Landscape of Punjab 2003-2006, published by Dewi Lewis in September 2007-

Following the death of his father, Kandhola returned to his birthplace in the region of Punjab, the region nestled between India, Pakistan and the region of Jammu and Kashmir. Literally translated as ‘The Land of the Five Rivers’ (‘punj’ is ‘five’; ‘aab’ is ‘rivers’), this is the spiritual birthplace of Sikhism. Intended to counteract stereotypical depictions of Punjab as a dusty, bustling urban area, he composed landscapes referencing Western artists such as Constable and Monet. Flatland is the second in a photographic trilogy of works related to family, memory and the geographical landscape of Kandhola’s cultural heritage, specifically his experience of life in Britain as a second generation Punjabi. He has said:

“My visual composition has inevitably been influenced by English landscapes and gardens. The British suburban garden is a part of British identity. And for many Punjabis who live in England, cultivation of the land – its nurturing and its produce – is both a lasting memory and an association with Punjab, as it was for my father.”

© Max Kandhola, Flatlands

In his first book in the trilogy, Illustration of Life (Dewi Lewis Publishing & Light Work New York 2003),  Kandhola photographed his father in the final stages of terminal illness. His intensely personal and honest images confront us with the intimate and often painful reality of death.

The last book in the series Roti Kapra ate Makhan (Food Cloths and Shelter) is a work in progress, and explores contemporary Sikh life in England, through a collection of vernacular photography documenting Kandhola’s extended family, (portraiture) history and archive.

You can read an interview with Kandhola discussing the work here.

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