KANTA Portraits: map & timeline

Jeffrey JC Lim

Jeffrey Lim’s exploration into photography started with the family’s point & shoot film-camera and the stories behind their black & white photographs. It was later in art school that he discovered the magic of the darkroom and explored deeper into the craft of image-making & printing.

He started experimenting with self-made box cameras utilising pinhole and lenses, and also explored using century-old box cameras, crossing between different mediums and methods to producing an image. At the same time, he started researching his family’s roots through interviews and photographs.

After watching the Afghan Box Camera Project video in 2011, he was inspired to design and build variants of the Kamra. Starting the project Kanta Box Kamra, he built the first four prototypes. He then developed new techniques in reproduction & printing after visiting the exhibition Retrato Popular, Sesc Belenzinho, and studying the Lambe-Lambe cameras of Brasil, he built several other prototypes.

In 2017, he started Kanta Portraits to explore the concepts of identity and the national-construct. Travelling to different parts of the region and many different indigenous communities, he recorded their narratives and in return, gave instant portraits. He is currently archiving the portraits and reflecting on the journey in the hopes of producing an exhibition and publication.