Museum of the Home commissions artist Kenneth Lam in new photography series Still Living inspired by the East London museum’s newest gallery

"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

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.