To Love, To Remember

I began taking portraits of my parents in 2020, though I didn’t fully understand why it felt so necessary. For a long time, I searched for a deeper reason, trying to articulate my purpose. That reason became clear to me in the spring of 2024 when I read an interview with an artist. His reflections on his grandparents inspired me to think about my own grandparents on my father’s side. But regretfully, I have no memories of them, as I never met them. My family doesn’t even have photographs of them. This absence is one of my deepest regrets, as I will never know what they looked like.

This realization made me reflect on the idea of family legacy and what I want to leave for future generations. I want to ensure that they have a rich visual connection to their grandparents, something I don’t have. Through these photographs, I want to create a visual legacy for my family. At the same time, these portraits serve as a deeply personal way for me to preserve the memory of my family and my homeland.

The twenty images in this series were created during the summer of 2024, when I returned to my hometown in southern China after living and studying in Boston for a year. I brought a large-format camera, a skill I had recently learned in college, to document my return. The slow process of using a large-format camera allowed me to gaze at my homeland and family in a subtle and peaceful way. The black-and-white images in the series evoke a sense of disconnection and distance, while the color photographs bring me closer to the tangible reality of the land where I am rooted and the family I love so deeply. The interplay between these two approaches mirrors my own state of displacement and longing for belonging in Boston.

This ongoing series is also a tribute to my brother, Aiyun, whose name translates to “Love Cloud” in English. Aiyun was a wonderful person my family lost in December 2024. We love him and miss him deeply.

You have a beautiful name,
Love Cloud.
Every time I look up,
I have seen you,
You have hugged me.