Since 2004, I have been working on a series of large scale panoramic images that explore issues of personal identity and shared history. 

The photographs are taken from one location and originate as hundreds of 4”x6” snapshots developed from 35mm color negatives, that are then scanned and digitally seemed together to form a 380 degree whole image (the ends of the photograph overlap). 

In this series, I want to challenge the idea of an essentializing viewpoint in both the way we look at historical events and also in how we remember the past.  Much like the final reconstructed panoramic, our own interpretations of ourselves are pieced together and reassembled into concrete wholes that we fictionalize to be complete.  Like a panoramic picture, such a viewpoint is a construct and fantasy. 

The final image is also incredibly personal: ultimately located in the snapshot, it is my own attempt to piece together a self-identity through such complicated issues such as gender, sexuality, race and nationhood. 

(Please click here to continue looking at the ongoing project).

                                                                        -- Jeff Sheng