We’ve got the sun under our skin is a series of photographs and texts illustrating the incremental effects that colonial literature has on the construction of modern identity. Drawing from 20th century British travelogues and ethnographic accounts in Malaya, images are created in response to the stories. Shot entirely in Britain, the photographs function as portrayals of the explorers’ experiences in the Straits Settlements—a mimicry to subvert the orientalist gaze.

The Soul of Malaya, Henri Fauconnier, 1930 : "Naked under a short flowered sarong knotted across their breasts, they bent down to draw water, and then stood up with up-raised arms while the water gushed over their rounded shoulders. The transparent patterned stuff stuck to their skins like tattoo marks".