Our “Carte Blanche” series is an ongoing collaboration with creative minds, where we give them free rein to showcase their interpretation of Dévé. In our ninth instalment, Chinese-born, Berlin-based photographer Mengyu Zhou explores the concept of “Asianess” by photographing members of the Asian diaspora far away from the place they call home.

Influenced by her own experience of cultural dislocation, Berlin-based photographer Mengyu Zhou captures tender, personal portraiture of the Asian diaspora. Working primarily in the analogue, her image-making is both a meditative and transformative process – a means to interrogate and more deeply connect to her sense of heritage. Her recent series, “Asianess” explores the multitudes of ways that individuals chose to present their Asian identity, particularly when placed within and influenced by western contexts.