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Convergence is a book by artist Wei Leng Tay, a Chinese Singaporean. Comprising 65 images, it is an intimate look at segments of the Chinese community in Singapore and Malaysia.
From 2009-2010, working with family, friends and acquaintances, Tay researched, photographed and interviewed families and individuals of Chinese descent in Singapore and Malaysia. Sitters were photographed in their homes, temples, coffee shops, and other frequented spaces.
Like many of her sitters, Tay’s family had originally migrated from Southern China to Malaya and Singapore. Looking inward at her own disjuncture from the traditions and habits of her own culture, Tay embarked on a journey that allowed her to discover shared experiences, histories and memories.
This book questions and records the changes current generations experience as they grow increasingly distant from their grandparents’ homeland, as attitudes and values shift with each generation. It also looks at how this Chinese community has evolved with characteristics shaped by the co-dependent history, and social landscapes particular to Singapore and Malaysia.
Convergence explores the ways of life and relationships of these people and reflects the ideas of race, heritage and language that are ingrained in the community. The people that Tay photographs for the project convey a contemporary take on the Chinese in her larger circle, free from the nostalgia and iconography commonly used to identify segments of the Chinese Diaspora.