IFChina, the NGO I am interning with here in Jián, is currently hosting two photographers from Nepal. These photographers founded Photo.Circle (a cultural NGO in Kathmandu) and we are lucky enough to be basking in their wisdom. I’m a staff member here, so it means I’m not taking part in the photography assignments but I enjoy being camera woman, occasional translator and all-round helpful person. I love being able to reflect on how far I’ve come during my 6 months here, from completely bamboozled and feeling out of my depth to working on a project like this one. I get to share my cultural knowledge, observations and advice with two outsiders and I also get to appreciate how awesome it is knowing the language when I see the two photographers trying to work out how to buy food. Like….Chinese is so totally useful!
The photography project that we are working on is ‘The Story of Jián’ and I think it is very poetic that this is one of the last things I am going to be involved in during my stay here. Participants are shooting stories of everyday people of Jián (characters that feel familiar to me now) and places that I’ve been to. In the end, we will have a collection of photos which are a sort of… time capsule of this city. I like that I will always have these photos to look at, because I know that when I come back, whenever that will be, the people and the city would have already changed. Such is the nature of China. It is a place that is constantly developing.
I am helping put together an exhibition of the photos, which is also exciting and totally surreal (like, am I really helping coordinate an exhibition of street photography in the middle of China… I feel like this was a dream of mine that I hadn’t even realised I had.) And everyone will be given a book of all the photos. Really, the greatest souvenir of my time here.
A quick hilarious anecdote (Dedicated to my friend Sophie who wants funny stories for her script writing projects.)
The other day I went with the Nepalese photographers to meet children from a nearby village who are involved in an IFChina photography project. I was acting as translator, when one serious little 9 year old girl asked me why I was the one translating when the photographers clearly looked more Chinese than me. After explaining that they were from a nearby country and spoke a different language, she nodded thoughtfully and added that other languages are not the same as Chinese and that words in other languages don’t really mean anything in Chinese. I agreed with her in all seriousness. Then she asked me why her own Chinese accent was better than mine, even though I was older.
One of the photographers decided to do a short activity with the children. We were in a park and it was a good location for them to run around in, taking photos. They were given four things to find and photograph. Firstly, something pretty. They sprinted off and naturally took photos of interesting rocks and flowers. Secondly, they had to take a photo of something ugly. One girl presented her photo of a fat man proudly, her friend pushed ahead and showed us her photo of the fat man’s fat child. As the third thing was announced, as luck would have it, a wedding party and some kids on rollerblades were approaching us. They had to take a photo of something moving fast. Half of the kids went and harrassed the bride to try to make her walk faster, the other half formed a hunting party to chase after the children on rollerblades. Chaos ensued. Finally, after the poor children on rollerblades were driven far from the area nearly in tears, they were told to take a picture of something they hadn’t seen before. Most of them went and took pictures of (more) interesting rocks and flowers, but one little girl came up and told me to pose so she could take a picture of me “I’ve never seen someone with white skin before” she said. Smart kid.
Cute kiddie wonkles (Photo: Emccall 2014)
Something Moving Fast (Photo: Emccall 2014)
Soaring Red Bucket 