In Between Identities
- Words
- Anna Dorothea Ker
The Melbourne-based, South Sudanese artist and writer Atong Atem’s ‘Third Culture Kids’ portrait series explores the space between the culture of one’s heritage and one’s adopted home.
recent interview, Atem explains, “Being a Third Culture Kid means recognising there’s a space that exists between the culture we’re from and the culture we’re living in. I feel not South Sudanese enough, or not Australian enough. I have to accept that I’ll never be both: those ideas are completely fabricated from outside of myself.”
The series of studio portraits emulates the type of set-up introduced to many parts of Africa by British colonisers, and uses as a backdrop and props fabrics and accessories that, though introduced by colonizers, have now become an integral part of African identity. In aAll images © Atong Atem