Suzy Xu Shuang
Photography
This journey, I was on it, hundreds of times, starting from Dali old town, passing ErYuan, JianChuan, HeQing, LiJiang, XiaoZhongDian, arriving in Shangrila, over 7-hour driving, before the high way was open. Lakes, villages, markets, towns, barren land, farmland, construction land, green mountain, snow mountain, plateau, temples, from altitude 2000 meters to 3500 meters, T-shirts to down jackets, you can see different customs of ethnic minorities, like Bai, Hui, Yi, Naxi, Lisu, Tibetan.
Sounds wonderful! Who doesn’t want to go on such a splendid journey?!
But what I want to show you is another look of the journey. which is not only exactly as what is described before, because that’s how the journey is; but also quite far away from what is described, because it has grown out of the journey and becomes a kind of metaphor.
From hundreds of the same journeys, I only pick one which is neither the first time nor and for sure not the last time. It’s the only time.
I remember clearly how excited and indulged I was, for the pictures I made with iPhone. My eyes were full of pictures. I wanted to grab everything, every tree, every wind, every light, every one that seemed off guard and without self-awareness. I kept pressing the shutter, like someone seeing a table full of delicious after long-time fasting.
After the journey, these pictures lay on my hard drive until recently, I found their uniqueness compared to my other documentation. Obviously, the form, yellow or black and white vintage style is different. However, the most important distinction is that they recorded some truth of that journey in such a vague way. Hugh strong shadows, unseen faces, many people’s backs. No idea of where they’re going, what they’re doing, what’s the looks on their faces or how they feel.
Discarding the basic and common information of a picture, which is faces and expressions, people as a specific person disappears. The people on these pictures can be anyone, they can go anywhere, they can feel anything or be in any mood. They can be you. They can also be me.
We’ve all went through such a journey. We’ve all seen such a lonely tree. We’ve all raised our hands to cover our eyes from such strong sunlight. We’ve all felt that we’ve no clue where we were and where we were going. We’ve all been trapped between the peeling high walls and broken buildings. We’ve all hoped to get rid of everything and reach a place like a holy mountain. We’ve all looked forward to wonders and sighed after seeing it. We’ve all watched the other’s direction and compared ours secretly. We’ve all looked back constantly. We’ve all scared of the unknown cliff somewhere ahead. We are all carrying our burdens and there’s no one else.
So, this is a journey of one person, but it’s also a journey of everyone.