Eman Khokhar
Photo courtesy of the artist

Damaris Athene: Could you start by telling me a bit about yourself, please?

Eman Khokhar: Sure. I am originally from Pakistan. I was born there and I grew up in the Middle East in the UAE. I studied at Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts for my foundation degree. Then I completed my bachelors at Oxford Brookes University studying fine arts, and then came back to do my photography MA at the Royal College of Art. Prior to first entering the UK, I studied for a year in Switzerland, in a finishing school called Institut Villa Pierrefeu.

DA: So you’ve been around!

EK: I'm very grateful. It's been a lot of fun. I’ve traveled as much as possible. I've gained so much exposure around the world, as well as just being in the UK.

DA: What drew you to the UK?

EK: It has such an exceptional array of universities that will give you confidence and support throughout your time, especially in the arts field. I've always loved the UK, I don't know what it is, there’s just something that gives me comfort about it. I am so grateful for all the opportunities given to me whilst living there.

Peaking Through, 2021, C-Type Print, 80cm x 60cm
Photo courtesy of the artist

DA: What do you explore in your practice?

EK: So my most recent project is called 'The Space in Between’. It’s about the relationship between a mother and a daughter. I wanted to depict a South Asian mother and daughter, and to show how there's a lot of dependency versus independency. I really wanted to focus in on the space in between the two of our relationships. Growing up in the Middle East and having the culture that I have and the religion, there’s the cost of compliance versus freedom. It’s made it difficult to be open about my work, and what I've been choosing and wanting to make. During the pandemic, I had the opportunity to explore things further because I realised that I didn’t know where time is going and what's going to happen. All of that uncertainty brought me to the point of doing something I've been meaning and wanting to make for a very, very long time. And obviously a relationship of such sort is a very fragile matter to approach, you have to approach it with a lot of care and kindness. During the pandemic I began getting closer to my mother, because she was the only person I wanted to talk to. The pandemic broke relationships, but also brought back relationships. I realised that it was the culture that kept stopping me, the strict rules that I was going along with while craving independence and freedom. I began noticing how she would hold her prayer beads, how she would pray, how she held her veil, how she would wrap it around her head. It would be so delicate and fragile that I just fell in love with these notions of hers. That's where my practice began to evolve with our relationship.

DA: Has your practice always been photography?

EK: Not in the past, it has mainly been installation based work. It's actually been a lot about the veil, prayer, and water. There’s this wonderful Chinese philosopher called Lao Tzu who speaks about the beauty of water and how delicate it can be while at the same time it can be so hard that it can break rocks. The beauty of water was something that really resonated with me in my past work. Slowly I began doing videography as well, and then through that I got into photography.

Untitled, 2021, Photograph
Photo courtesy of the artist

DA: With your recent project with your mum, is it all photography?

EK: Yes, but I plan on expanding it further. At one point I experimented with Urdu calligraphy because my grandfather, my mum’s father, passed away during the pandemic. I had a lot of his handwritten notes which are kept close to my heart. I’ve tried out using my mum’s handwriting and his on my work. I want to do something different than just layering the calligraphy onto photographs. I want them to have their own individuality but still compliment one another, if that makes sense.

DA: I’m interested to see how that turns out. Could you expand on how you explore comfort and discomfort within your work?

EK: It relates back to the cost of compliance versus freedom, independency versus dependency. The discomfort is living in a cultural society where things are put on you and you don't really have a choice. How do you work around it? The comfort being that with everything that's happening in the world, the only comfort I do find is within my mother and the bond we share.

DA: How do you find it being back home? Are you coming back with a different mindset than when you lived there before?

EK: Yes, I'm coming back with a different mindset. It's not the same as it was before, I’ve gained so much exposure of the world, that my new way of thinking has helped me cope with where I am today. I still have the tendencies of wanting to get back out and travel, but not a lot can happen because of the situation we are all in. So I accept where I am and I’m looking forward to what I create next!

Ami (Mother), 2021, Photograph
Photo courtesy of the artist

DA: That sounds like a really positive change that's happened. How do you investigate your cultural identity within your work?

EK: The way I touch on cultural identity is mainly to do with the veil. The veil has been such a prominent aspect of my work for so many years, the covering of the face that's hiding the identity. The beauty of bringing back cultural identity through the veil has always been such a joy for me.

DA: Do you wear the veil yourself?

EK: No, I don't, but I am surrounded by it because of living in the middle east. There's beauty in the different ways of wearing the veil and what’s fascinating is what it means to people and the effect it has. I personally see it as a second layer of skin.

DA: How would you usually work and how has that been affected by the pandemic?

EK: Well, I usually work in the studio so that was a slap in the face. I lived in my studio. As my recent project was very home based, it worked for me being at home, but at the same time being in the studio allows you to rethink the whole project again. It has been challenging during the pandemic, I wish I had had more of an opportunity to travel and go back to take more photographs.

DA: Did you edit the photos?

EK: None of the images are edited. I worked hard trying out different layering combinations in the studio. There was a lot of trial and error in the process. But that’s exactly how you learn what not to do next.

Tasbee, 2021, Photograph
Photo courtesy of the artist

DA: That's so interesting, because I've only ever seen them online and I had no idea that there were different layers to the images.

EK: Yeah, there are a lot of layers. I don't like overlapping on Photoshop so I physically do it.

DA: I hope I can see them in real life one day. What would you like people to get from your work?

EK: I'd like to hear what people think about the relationship through the work. The conversation of the space in between, the gap of being so close yet so far.

DA: What does your mom think about the project?

EK: She loves it. She's been very supportive of the work. She loves hearing people's views on the work. It’s so exciting not only for me, but also for her to hear what people think.

DA: Are there any reactions that are particularly memorable?

EK: There was one lady who came up to me and asked if everything was staged in the photograph of The Blue Room. People assume I edit my photos but I don’t. All of the objects in the photo are how my mum places them there every day. The only thing I did was to place her in the middle. It gives a calming sensation because there's something so calming yet so intriguing at the same time. Who is that lady? Why is she in this room? Why is she so delicately placed here? It got me to look around more in my house for my mother’s touch, how she places things. My photographs then didn’t need to focus on the lady anymore but just her touch. It's just what is placed there. That's really beautiful.

The Blue Room, 2021, C-Type Print, 60cm x 80cm
Photo courtesy of the artist

DA: Whose work inspires you?

EK: Definitely Shirin Neshat and Donna Matar. There’s another really great philosopher, Gatean De Clerembault. I wrote my dissertation on him and he focused on women and their fetish about the veil. I found that insanely interesting. It led me on to the veil and the female gaze. Then also Chantal Faust, she spoke on touch. She inspired me a lot about the notion of touching within my work and the materials I used for printing.

DA: Some people for me to look into! What projects have you been working on recently?

EK: Recently, I've been taking a bit of a break but I am going to take a step back from working between the mother and the daughter and open my horizons to a couple of other things. I want to work on a more universal speech. I’d like to make images where people wouldn’t need to read the concept behind them to understand them. I've been extremely interested in writing and calligraphy and bringing that into my work. I’m very interested in the brain and psychology, and how the mind works. Also how words have an effect on people, I have a feeling this will be a bit challenging, but I’m up for it!

DA: Interesting. Are you planning on coming back to the UK?

EK: I hope so. Nothing is set in stone!

DA: I look forward to seeing what you do next. Thank you Eman!

EK: Thank you!