Jawi Peranakan family at their home in Telok Kurau. Image courtesy of the Peranakan Museum
Images of Peranakans from the dawn of photography to the present, expose the long and complex relationship between cameraman, camera and subject. The dynamic negotiations between these three principal elements produced diverse results, depending on countless variables from the mood of the cameraman, the lighting, and the technical capacities of the camera, to the expression and pose of the subject. In the multicultural environments of port cities where social rules were less strictly enforced among migrant communities, both posed studio photograph and amateur snapshot betray the inconsistency and diversity of expression. These characteristics are also clearly apparent in photographs of members of the wide and varied networks of Peranakan communities across Southeast Asia. Therefore photography, rather than asserting Peranakan identity, endlessly undermines it.
PETER LEE
Peter is an independent researcher, curator and storyteller. He is the Founding Curator of the NUS Baba House, a historic museum managed by the National University of Singapore. He also hosts ‘The Mark of Empire’ (TV Series 1 and 2; 2020-2023) where he explores Southeast Asian and Japanese empires that made their mark on the world.
A portrait of Lie Pa-toe Nio, a member of a prominent Chinese Peranakan family in Batavia (Jakarta), taken around 1900. Image courtesy of the Asian Civilisations Museum
View the entire series here.
Payments for Individual Lecture: TAASA members: $15, Non-members: $25
ALL BOOKINGS AND PAYMENTS ARE TO BE MADE IN ADVANCE VIA THE TAASA WEBSITE. NO REFUNDS
