Photographer Zhu Lan Qing is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From her handmade book ‘A Journey In Reverse Direction‘. To see Zhu’s body of work click on any image.
These Photo was taken in my hometown Dongshan Island, an island located in the south of Zhangzhou, Fujian Province.
Inevitable urban development gives people amnesia. They often forget what existed here before. I can only follow its pace, with my camera to “fight” with these changes in my hometown. My hometown has influenced me and shaped me since I was born. At the beginning of this book, I was dressed in clothes from my grandparents which was found in my grandmother’s room. The effect seems to be a mutual process between my hometown and myself. What I have seen is what it wish I could see. Shooting hometown seems like a journey in reverse direction, leading me to the vague memories in dark and in the bottom of my heart.
In my work, I use BACHIMEN (the bridge to Dongshan Island) , home, Food, Land, God, sea as the clue to reconstruct my hometown and put these fragments that I collected from my hometown into a book which can be read or showed. In this form, these spaces, people and objects can condense on the paper. Through the covering and unfolding these pages, it starts to reveal the meaning of my hometown to me. This handmade book represents a guide book of my hometown. It’s a section of all our hometowns which drifting away in the urban developing. It will give us a chance to stop and touch our hometown, reflect on what is the meaning of home at the same time.
See also:
A Journey In reverse Direction
Handmade Book By Photographer Zhu Lan Qing
