This project is a photo story in memory of my grandfather who passed away in 2020 before Lunar New Year. It contains the landscape of the surrounding environment of my grandfather's grave which is by a river, and the village that my grandparents live and the town where my third uncle, my father and me bought the plastic flowers for sweeping and decorating the grave, and the portraits of part of the families.
At the time when my grandfather died, I was studying aboard in the US. And because of the COVID policy of Chinese government, my flight ticket got cancelled again and again which made me cannot attend the funeral of my grandfather. As a photographer, the loss of family made me realized that I have never take any photos for my families. The only picture of my grandfather that I had in my phone is on the side of chasing the "fancy" ideas to gain success, it is also important to be a part of family.
With the thought of memorizing my grandfather, I flied back from UK where I am studying photography now during the Qingming festival (the Chinese Memorial Day) in 2024, which is the day that Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites and make ritual offerings to their ancestors. During the trip, I revisited and explored the village that my grandfather lived in, swept and decorated his grave, visited my grandmother who is now still living in the old house alone for most of time. With the exploration of the village, I found that because of the death of the older generation, and the moving out of young generation, the village now looks very empty. Some abandoned house’s main body disappears but the door frame and wall base still exist, and the space of the house is now using as field to grow crops. Dogs are not all tied up like they are in the city, they neither bark as well, just hanging on the small road. The feeling that I had at that time is more like quietness, emptiness, and loneliness, instead of sadness. It somehow let me imagine the end of the society. When human being just disappeared, some buildings might disappear, some others are still there, many animals live freely but the captive animals remain in their pens.
What is meant to be disappear will eventually disappear, and what is meant to stay will finally stay. The metal fences, the block, the concrete, the last human would look at them with a sad, regretful or melancholy feeling. But after the last human disappeared, all of them are just the “heritage” of nothing.
Town
My father drove the car with my third uncle and me to the closest town, called Cheng Zi Jie, to buy the plastic flowers for the decoration of my grandfather's grave and tombstone.
River
On the way from the town to my grandfather's grave, there was a river which also flows right past my grandfather's grave. This river is called North River by the villager. It is a significant place and the common memory
During the visiting of my grandfather's grave, my third uncle proposed that there was a millstone closed to the grave, which is not good for my grandfather and other ancestors to bless the young people. Then my third uncle and my father use rope and shovel to remove it and pushed it to the river. After that, we went back to the village.
Village
my grandma came out to greet me and my father.
selfie of my third uncle and my grandma, Chairman Mao's photo is sticked on the wall as well.
The red hat was given to my grandma when she was in a nursing home in the city.
before family photo - 1
before family photo - 2
back left to right : my second uncle's wife, third uncle's son, my third uncle, my father.
front: my grandmother
the only and last picture that I accidentally took during the Lunar New Year of 2018 with my phone of my grandfather. I was aiming to take a picture of the dishes.