Shortlist, Mixed by Theo Gould

At its heart, Mixed is an exploration of racial and cultural identity. It deals specifically with people who have mixed heritage and captures the essence of what it’s like to be mixed race. It not only explores the experiences of each subject but also echoes my own. Humanity’s tribal nature is such that we constantly look to fit in, and being mixed race often means sacrificing parts of oneself or one’s culture in order to do so. Each shoot started with a face-to-face conversation about what it means to be mixed race and our experience of growing up in two (or more) worlds or cultures, but never fully being part of either. The conversations focus especially on the contradiction of fitting in everywhere but nowhere at the same time, and the resulting shoot is a collaboration that encompasses the themes considered. Mixed race people are living proof that different cultures can live and love together. As the world becomes more globalised and interracial relationships are normalised, it is not just a refreshing realisation that the children of the future will almost certainly be mixed race but in reality, when we look at humanity’s history and our own DNA, we discover that racial purity is not simply undesirable but also a wholly unachievable ideal.