Journey to the West
(西游记)

‘Journey to the West’ (西游记) is a personal story about 10 years spent living as an immigrant in a foreign country, away from family and the comforts of a familiar culture. 

In September 2012, I drifted across the ocean and found myself in an unfamiliar land. Leaving behind family, friends, and the familiarity of home, I embarked on a new life – first in Oxford and later in London. The past eleven years have been a period of great personal growth for me, as I set about to integrate into a foreign culture and find my place in the world.

This series uses the anonymity, geometry, and formal visual language of my street photography as metaphors for the difficulties and existential uncertainty I have felt over these years in the “hostile environment” of the modern United Kingdom.

I have borrowed the title ‘Journey to the West’ from a Ming dynasty Chinese myth about the journey of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang who travelled to the ‘Western Regions’ to obtain Buddhist sacred texts (sutras).