Presented through a video interview with my mother and a traditional Chinese woman’s garment, Fragments of Us explores the intersection of culture, memory, and identity. Paying homage to the rich history of garment making in Chinese culture and within my family, the custom-fitted qipao features floral motifs of the lotus flower, orchid, maple leaf, and poppy, which weave together my family’s story. The video interview is a reflection on my mother’s life, exploring the hardships of war and immigration, as well as transmitting the wisdom and oral history of my maternal family.
My family is of Chinese descent and has lived in Vietnam for many generations. As refugees fleeing the traumas of war, what value does a photograph hold when it is all that remains after you leave home? When your memories of home recede with time and your material belongings are left behind or taken by the state, a photograph becomes more than its physical entity; it becomes a reminder of a past life.
My family history is not pictured in the family album. My parents’ and grandparents’ lives in Vietnam are remembered through fragments of memory and storytelling—details fleeting with time and passing generations—with the few photographs that remain from their time in China scattered amongst relatives who migrated to the U.S. As a first-generation Canadian, I have reaped the rewards of my family’s hard work and sacrifices; however, my upbringing and assimilation into Western culture have left a part of my identity missing.
Sophia is a Toronto-based photographer currently completing a BFA at Toronto Metropolitan University. Working in both digital and analogue mediums, her work focuses on landscape and documentary photography, and explores themes of self-identity, culture and change, informed by her lived experiences as the daughter of Chinese-Vietnamese immigrants.