'Wherever We Go' is an ongoing project looking at cultural inheritance as both a blessing and a burden. I am exploring my Latvian roots by looking at old family photographs, documents and treasured keepsakes, as well as making new family portraits. Within these materials, I discover the traditions and myths that form a part of our family story.

My grandmother fled Latvia as a young woman during WWII when the country was being invaded by Russian Soviet forces and the German army. She would never see her home country again. My mother was born in a refugee camp after the war in Germany.
When I look at our family history, I find both pain and joy and see how these emotional memories have been an ongoing theme in my life, as I seek to explore my own identity as a child of two cultures and the daughter of a refugee.

Using a variety of techniques such as hand colouring and collage directly onto my photographs, I have found a way to honour my ancestors and to create a contemporary vision of three generations of women in my family.

Sarah Ketelaars is a British photographer from Brighton, UK. She has a degree in English Literature from Jesus College, Cambridge, an MSc in Social Science from the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and a Diploma in photography from City College, Brighton. Her images have appeared on book, cd and magazine covers.

Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented by Trevillion Images and by 35 North Gallery in Brighton. In 2021 she was selected as one of the Lens Culture Critics’ Choice winners for her project ‘Windows’ shot during lockdown in Houston, Texas.