Tirtha Lawati was born in Nepal and raised in Britain. He grew up across a number of counties—Kent, North Yorkshire, and Warwickshire—before studying photography at Warwickshire College, and then fashion photography at London College of Fashion. His editorials published in Vogue Italia and Dazed narrate fashion collections designed by his peers, of models at ease in clothes worn with confidence; but his own portfolio documents the tentative experience of first-generation Asian youth in the UK, suspended between the worldview of their parents and the accommodation of British values. Therefore, throughout the years, ‘identity’ became a prominent theme in his work. His work is an expression of his diaspora experiences as he has lacked ‘belonging’ to a specific country. Over time, he saw the importance of exploring/processing his identity via his craft and perceiving identity as a collective piece of universal reflection and experiences. ‘Homecoming’ is one of his ongoing personal projects and displays his return to his homeland, Nepal, and a reunion with his family and friends. It explores diaspora politics discussing relationships with the ethnic homelands, the host state, and the prominent role of ethnic conflict. ‘Nyauli’ is also one of his ongoing personal projects and is a sub-project to ‘Homecoming’, which he started during the lockdown in the UK about his family in the space they call home. Nyauli is a series of playful, tender depictions of home and cultural belonging and in particular, Lawati’s nieces became a particular focus, as they were the same age that Lawati and his sister were when they first arrived in Britain to confront a new life and a new language. The struggles of Lawati’s assimilation are lost on the two young girls, who speak English as their mother tongue. Lawati captures the desire to overcome a generational divide in a portrait of his nieces with their hair plaited with lacha, a traditional red hair accessory worn by Nepali women with floral appendages made from raw jute fiber, yarn, beads, and threads. Like most young girls, Lawati’s nieces wear the braids their own way, studded with chrysanthemums picked from the garden. He is currently documenting Nepali diaspora youth in the UK.
