The empire is an unreliable narrator. Since the origins of the British Empire around 350 years ago, the meaning of Anglo-Indian as an identity, subgroup and culture has morphed multiple times. Finding new significance within each generation, ‘Anglo-Indian-ness’ is largely reactive: shaping itself according to the changing community it represents. Even our own personal narratives and histories are subjective: we forget things. Memory is theoretically infinite but in practice it is shaped by trauma, limited by what we can bring ourselves to remember, or to hold on to.

Tessa Norton’s ongoing research focuses on post-colonial Anglo-Indian identity. It considers how subcultures have been concealed and exposed at different points in time. Norton asks how identity can relate to biography and performance, and how identities have been constructed with each generation.

Here, Norton presents work-in-progress ahead of her forthcoming commission, Dark Circles, a multimedia installation based around a new body of writing, found footage, and layered soundtrack. The work reflects on the challenges of working with biography, intergenerational trauma and shifting cultural perceptions.