Meet the Patels: A photographer’s portraits of twins with a shared surname

Highlights

• Photographer Ketaki Sheth spent three years documenting Patel twins in Britain and India
• The project began after she discovered thousands of people shared her husband’s surname in the UK
• The portraits explore migration, identity and cultural connections across generations
• The collection is currently being exhibited at Photo London

A surname sparked an idea that crossed borders

When Mumbai-based photographer Ketaki Sheth moved to London in the mid-1990s after her husband Aurobind Patel became design director at The Economist, a chance discovery led to an unexpected project.

While looking through a directory in Britain, Sheth found around 30,000 people carrying the Patel surname. Curious about the size of the community and its strong links to Gujarat in western India, she began exploring the story of a diaspora spread across two countries.

Instead of taking a broad approach, she chose a more specific focus — Patel twins. The idea would become a years-long project examining identity through people connected by both family and name.

Ramesh & Suresh, UK 1997Ketaki

Three years tracing family, identity and migration

Over the next three years, Sheth travelled across Britain and Gujarat searching for Patel twins and creating carefully staged portraits.

The photographs explored the experiences of people whose lives unfolded in different places but remained tied by shared heritage. Through these images, Sheth examined how migration shapes identity while revealing similarities that continue across borders and generations.

The portraits capture contrasts between communities in Britain and India, while also reflecting enduring connections rooted in family history.

Sanjiv & Sandip, UK 1996Ketaki

The project is now on display at Photo London

Now based in Mumbai, Sheth has built a body of work centred on social and cultural themes. Her project, Twinspotting: Photographs of Patel Twins in Britain & India, is currently on display at Photo London at Olympia.

The ongoing exhibition runs until 17 May and brings together a project that began with a simple discovery before becoming a study of migration, belonging and shared roots.