Between, Across and Through

This work is about following. I follow myself with a camera, and frame where I am. As the shutter opens and closes, it becomes where I was. Looking back, amid ever shifting grounds, I am followed by what is constant. The photographs show it as my family and my own image, but much of what is constant can neither be seen, nor photographed.

How do I take a picture of all the people I miss who are oceans away? How do I record images of the things I am forgetting? How can a camera see the missing pieces of my culture?

I follow myself with a camera because I don’t know where I am going. I follow myself with a camera because I want to see who was with me, and whom I was missing. I follow myself with a camera to remember the way home.

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Mehreen, or Lali, Khalid grew up in Pakistan. Her father introduced her to photography at a very young age. She has been taking pictures ever since. Her work wanders between themes in landscape, abstraction and documentary photography, but has always centered itself around portraiture. She earned her BFA from The National College of Arts in Lahore, and her MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Lali’s work has been shown in many galleries throughout Pakistan as well as numerous locations in the US. Reviews of her work have appeared in 3Quarksdaily, The Express Tribune (with the International Herald Tribune), Khaleej Times, Newsline, Daily Times, Libas International and others.

She currently lives and works in the United States.

“I photograph everything and anything. My main interest lies in portraiture. Building a language from expressions, emotions and moments, my photographs are a reflection of my inner personal qualities. They depict and document cultural and private conflicts, as well as emotive effects of natural light, through quiet, narrative allusions.”