#thomasholton

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In the tradition of portrait photographers such as Nicholas Nixon and Milton Rogovin, Thomas Holton photographed the Lam family over an extended period of time. Holton was born in Guatemala to a Chinese mother who was a tour guide in Taipei and an American father who was a travel photographer. While he grew up in Manhattan, his maternal grandparents lived in Chinatown, but he always felt like a visitor in their neighborhood. 

Holton met Steven and Shirley Lam and their three young children when he was taking publicity photographs for the University Settlement, an organization that offered support to immigrants on the Lower East Side (LES) in Manhattan since 1886. Holton visited the Lam family once a week for more than twelve years and became a part of their household. 

Holton’s photographs are closer to street photographs than portraits, capturing the daily lives of the family in a candid manner with emotional sensibility and respect. His “The Lams of the Ludlow Street” project was triggered by Holton’s interrogation of his own cultural identity. Over the years, his work has grown into a close relationship with the family - Holton accompanied the family on a trip to Hong Kong and China in 2004, and the Lams attended Holton’s wedding in 2007. Holton’s project shows the Asian American immigrant experience as well as it is the exploration of a family’s turbulent history.

According to Holton, “My need to see the Lams regularly moved beyond the desire to make new photographs and became akin to visiting family members that I cherish. I return out of love and the knowledge that time is fleeting.” 

Thomas Holton : the Lams of Ludlow Street
Texts: Charles Traub, Bonnie Yochelson, Thomas Holton.
Heidelberg : Kehrer, c2015.
96 unnumbered pages : ill. (chiefly col.), ports. ; 23 x 29 cm.
English
HOLLIS number: 990145137490203941