Xiaopeng Yuan

“These photos were taken in the place where I was born, located in the south of China. After my childhood, I spent most of my time living and studying in other cities in the country.

I go back to my hometown every year for the Chinese New Year holiday and most of the time I act like a tourist. Even though I spent my childhood there, it actually makes me nervous, as a result, it’s very difficult to take my camera out to aim on the strangers, not even mention to directly aim on their faces. And of course, there are shy people everywhere, so often times, I just use my instinct to take photos of my relatives, landscape, nature, views of someone’s back, and still life. The landscape there can always touch me. It is a transition area between urban and rural landscapes, it is a city built by the last generation who used to be farmers and farmed on this land. These simple and rough landscape and my relatives, who are still living there, constantly remind me of my origin, heritage and social class.” – Xiaopeng Yuan

Xiaopeng Yuan now lives and works in Shanghai.