As an organisation that takes its commitment to arts and culture extremely seriously, The Victoria Gallery and Museum is delighted to announce its involvement with the LOOK/13 Liverpool International Photography Festival. The team are particularly pleased to be able to present The Queen, The Chairman and I – a brand new body of work from Kurt Tong.

Through this exhibition, Tong explores his own heritage through photography and writing and also allows visitors to share their own family stories at a Chinese tea house within the museum. This body of work is set to be fascinating for anyone lucky enough to attend the exhibition and started as a storybook produced by Tong to share with his daughters.

Tong explores issues such as individuality, identity and nationality through The Queen, The Chairman and I. Due to the fact that he grew up around three contrasting cultures, the collection really captures what these differing backgrounds stand for.

His father’s grandfather was a deckhand who travelled to Hong Kong from Shanghai and his family has strong ties to Southern China. He was himself born in Hong Kong but has since spent over half of his life in England. This inspired him to explore his own identity through the medium of photography and ask the question; “How Chinese Am I or Indeed, who am I?”

Tong trained as a health visitor at the University of Liverpool but went on to become a full time photographer in 2003. Since then he has scooped such prestigious awards as the Luis Valtuena International Humanitarian Photography Award, and the Jerwood Photography Award.

‘The Queen, The Chairman and I’ is open at the Victoria Gallery and Museum from 18th May until 24th August 2013.

To keep up to date with The Queen, The Chairman and I as well as everything else going on at The Victoria Gallery and Museum this spring and summer, just visit http://vgm.liv.ac.uk/whats-on/.