I’ve been giving some thought to what kind of images I want to capture while staying in China over this summer. I’ve been thinking of conveying ideas of age, family, modernity, tradition, structures, people, community, etc. These are some of the things that have caught my eye so far:
A nursing community in Shenyang, with the old being cared for with or without family present, passing the time with calligraphy using a sponge, a stick, and some water.
A mother reading to her children in the back of a small scooter car, outside of a 7/11 and branching off of a busy Beijing street.
The Fuling Mausoleum in Shenyang, a UNESCO world heritage site standing majestically when seen from afar but with paint peels and rock crumbling when examined closely. My mom’s passing comment, “The shopping malls are probably filled with people while we’re one of the few people here.”
China’s economic development has given most people a better life, and some people immense wealth in short fashion. Money has changed so many peoples’ lives, but I wonder if it has also started to change peoples’ values as well. Luxury cars fill entire streets, mixed in with scooters and pedal carts. Clothes, handbags, and shoes proudly display the bold logos of designer brands, with no real way of telling the fakes apart at a glance.
I want to explore the following questions. What has changed, and what has been preserved, physically, and culturally? What changes have been good, what changes have been bad, and who’s being left out?
I can look out my window and see an incredibly city, brimming with talent, wealth, and technology, a view through a window stained by the smog-filled air.
Views through a dirty window 