London Art Award nominee Zarina Bhimji: '.. the significant ethical issues have resonance for me. I wanted to register these issues, to mark what has happened; elimination, extermination and erasure. Such a combination of personal and public aspects hold a particular resonance in the state of 21st Century.'

When did you realise you wanted to take on the expulsion of Asian people from Uganda as a photographic theme?

I didn’t start with the question of Asian people or Uganda. My project was about learning to listen to “difference”, the difference in shadows, microcosms and sensitivity to difference in its various forms. Listening with eyes, listening to changes in tone, difference of colour. It attempts to link to similar disturbances that have taken place in Kosovo, Rwanda. The work is not personal indulgence; it is about making sense through the medium of aesthetics. It is a question that is close to my heart since the significant ethical issues have resonance for me. I wanted to register these issues, to mark what has happened; elimination, extermination and erasure. Such a combination of personal and public aspects hold a particular resonance in the state of 21st Century. The presentation is presented as a personal metaphor. I hope that the work that emerges would be distanced from its personal or historical specifications.

Have you been surprised by the reaction your photographs have elicited, both from the art world and a wider audience?

Yes, I have been moved because it has given more confidence to address tough subjects with beauty.

As an artist, are you constantly thinking of your next work, or is all your energy directed towards the current project?

I work better if my energies are directed in the current project. Sometimes an idea for the future comes which is good too and that is okay.

Who has particularly influenced and supported you throughout your career so far?

My father has influenced me. He was very brave and took off by himself to Africa at such a young age, for a better life. It is this attitude to survive I am inspired by. I have been supported by my teacher from Goldsmiths College, University of London. His passion, commitment, openness, care and his thinking have been very important to me.