British-Chinese dual identity explored in creative food photos pairing icons of the two cuisines

In the heart of London’s Chinatown, popular cultural hub China Exchange wants to address the subject of dual identity. But it is not hosting a debate; instead, it will explore the topic through a series of photographs. The exhibition is based around a theme that can be at once unifying and divisive: food. British-born Chinese photographer Marcella Chan has been commissioned to produce 15 images for the exhibition. Her brief was to celebrate lesser-known Asian ingredients, so she decided to create a collection that reflected her heritage. “I grew up in Somerset [in southwest England] where there were very few other Chinese people,” she says. “My parents were from Hong Kong and they ran a Chinese takeaway. I spent a lot of my childhood in the restaurant.” Chan, 25, mismatches ingredients and utensils to create striking images that combine elements of both British and Chinese cuisines, presented against plain, brightly coloured backgrounds. “A lot of the photographs have a summer theme, as the exhibition is taking place in July. I thought of typical British summer foods – fish and chips, 99 flake ice cream, scones and jam,” she says. Scandinavia, where burger stands are vegan and fast food slow The pictures are witty and amusing: a Hong Kong pineapple bun is split and spread with jam, at first glance resembling a traditional British cream tea; a whole fish with rice and vegetables is wrapped in a cone made from a Chinese newspaper. “Fish and chips is one of the first things people think of when you ask them to name a famous British dish. But equally, steamed fish with rice and veggies is something a lot of Chinese people eat. My mother cooked it all the time when I was a child,” Chan says “So I presented the ingredients for the Chinese fish dish in a British way. People eat fish and chips with these small wooden forks out of a paper cone.” Some of the images are a simple fusion of two ingredients: a papaya is halved and spliced with a slice of similarly coloured cantaloupe melon; two types of broccoli, Chinese gai lan and British calabrese, are snapped side by side. “When I was approached about the exhibition, the aim was to encourage visitors to try less familiar ingredients,” Chan says. “Some of the local restaurants are providing recipe cards too, so people might feel inspired by my photos to buy the ingredients in them and take them home to cook.” Other photographs position Chinese ingredients in a traditional British context. One example features a century egg, peeled to reveal its gelatinous, black form, presented in a striped British egg cup. The simplicity of composition makes this image especially appealing – but its creation took a lot of work. “At first I wanted to draw a parallel between British pickled eggs and Chinese century eggs,” Chan says. “So I tried putting a peeled century egg into a large jar of pickled eggs – so there was one black egg swimming among all the white ones. Unfortunately, it didn’t photograph well as the century egg got rather lost, so I decided to place it in an egg cup instead.” Chan recently graduated from Bournemouth University on England’s south coast, where she studied fine art photography. She had the opportunity to study commercial photography but preferred the more creative way of telling stories with her pictures. She says has become increasingly interested in the question of identity. “I didn’t really think about [my heritage] much as a small child in Somerset,” she says. “You just fit in as best you can. Later, I went to a school that had quite a lot of international students from Hong Kong, and then I got to know more about where I was from.” She explains that the opportunity to express herself through photography at university was the biggest catalyst for exploring her cultural identity. “University was a more multicultural environment. There was an East Asian population. It made me question who I was. I realised that I wanted to explore and understand more about my Chinese side, so I started to do projects about nostalgia and self-identity using snapshots I had taken [on trips to] Hong Kong,” she says. Fish and chips to fry-ups, where to find Hong Kong’s best British food The playful nature of her work occasionally borders on mischief. Chan’s favourite piece in her new collection is a take on the 99 flake – which in Britain is an ice cream cone with vanilla soft-serve ice cream piped into it with a stick of flaked chocolate on top. Chan’s version is a lurid purple cream with a thick, green stalk rising from one of the piped coils. “It is actually mashed ube [a purple root vegetable],” she admits. “I piped it through an icing bag and then used a spring onion as a garnish. Ube is often used in Asian deserts and I thought this would be a fun way to present it.” A video showing Chan preparing and shooting some of the images in the collection will play at the exhibition. “It’s a behind-the-scenes sort of thing,” she explains. “The photographs were fun to create. I guess my work – the combination of Chinese and British cuisine – is really a metaphor for being from those two places.” “Contemplate: An Exploration of Dual Identity Through Food” runs from July 9 to 14 at China Exchange, Chinatown, London. No entry charge. Open July 9, 11-13 from 12pm to 7pm; July 10 from 12pm to 5.30pm; and July 14 from 12pm to 4pm

British-Chinese dual identity explored in creative food photos pairing icons of the two cuisines

Steamed fish rice wrapped in newspaper, century egg in an egg cup – Marcella Chan’s images reflect the dual heritage of British-born Chinese Her photos, which also celebrate lesser-known Asian ingredients, will be shown at an exhibition at China Exchange in London

Steamed fish rice wrapped in newspaper, century egg in an egg cup – Marcella Chan’s images reflect the dual heritage of British-born Chinese

Her photos, which also celebrate lesser-known Asian ingredients, will be shown at an exhibition at China Exchange in London