Open on Tue, 24 June 2025

Museum of the Home commissions artist Kenneth Lam in new photography series Still Living

Hong Kong & London-based photographer Kenneth Lam has created a series of seven exclusive photographs based on Museum of the Home’s historical and contemporary period rooms.
A dimly lit still‐life setting evoking a 19th-century parlour: in the foreground, an ornate wooden chair upholstered in dark damask holds a folded white fabric over its back. Beside it, a small square table displays a crystal pedestal bowl, a spotted ceramic dog figurine, and a cluster of deep red grapes. In the back is another table draped in moss green fabric with a pink vase. To the right, a richly patterned hangs against the shadowed wall.

Press release
19/12/2024

Known for his evocative and arresting still-life photography, this new series offers a contemporary interpretation of the period rooms by Lam – whose pieces typically explore heritage, identity, family and culture – through his own lens of home. They will be on display at Museum of the Home from 28 January 2025 to 29 June 2025.

The Museum’s renowned Rooms Through Time document domestic spaces spanning 400 years and centre lived experiences of making home in London in the past, present and future. The latest of the Rooms Through Time: 1878-2049, co-curated with members of the communities they represent, opened in July 2024. From a Victorian townhouse to a contemporary British Vietnamese family home to a speculative home of the future in 2049, the museum invites visitors to explore ideas of home in a more interactive and immersive experience which is open to all ages and fully accessible.

Kenneth Lam’s photography offers a compelling and contemporary interpretation of our period rooms [...] Through his lens, the everyday becomes extraordinary, connecting us emotionally with the universal themes of home and belonging.

Sonia Solicari, Director, Museum of the Home

Visitors will be able to find out more about individual pieces in the series on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and cultural app. Original prints of the seven photographs will be displayed at Museum of the Home in Hoxton and are available to purchase, supporting the Museum as a registered charity. The photographs are also available to purchase as prints and postcards in the Museum of the Home Shop.

I wanted to make the objects feel alive [...] as if they were moving, talking to each other. With each room, I looked at what story I was diving into as an ‘outsider’, but also thinking what essentially stood out and what objects sang with each other.

Kenneth Lam on art direction for each image

A still life of personal items including a pillow, red cowboy boots, sneakers, a dumbbell-part, red and black heeled boot, a pair of nike sneakers, toilet paper, Greggs wrapper, red thong with chains, jewelry, a condom packet, and a magazine, all stacked together on a white cloth against a black background.
A red-toned still life featuring a vintage Black Power newspaper, a Black doll in a red dress, dominoes, toy vehicles, a pick comb, and a View-Master, all arranged in and around a red plastic tray.

Each vignette of Lam’s is as distinct as the rooms themselves, weaving personal history, social commentary, and aesthetic detail into a unique visual narrative. In collaboration with the curators and creative team at Museum of the Home, the artist gives viewers a taste of the personal narratives bringing these spaces to life. Each piece draws attention to the Museum’s collection of objects found throughout the period rooms in the gallery, recontextualised with care to reveal how domestic objects can shape and reflect the lives of their owners.

Highlights from the series include Lam’s piece for the 1878 Townhouse, evoking a lush Victorian home featuring deep reds and richly patterned green, while centring precious personal objects belonging to the travelling Ayah – the domestic caregiver from India – inhabiting the space. His piece based on the 1978 room (curated by Dr. Michael McMillan) draws out the dualities of playfulness and discontent, childhood and protest, in a powerful red portrait. Abundant with youthful chaos is the 2005 piece, as it celebrates the messiness of the three LGBTQ+ housemates; pillows, magazines, sausage rolls, and other objects tumble together in a lively depiction of a shared, carefree lifestyle.

A hand holding up a smartphone displaying information and an image of a terraced house from 1978, with the actual display blurred in the background.

Free digital guide

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