Under the Well (2018)
Laojing is a remote village in Shanxi, China, once known as the filming location of a popular Chinese movie from the 1980s. Yet, despite the country’s rapid development, life in Laojing remained difficult when I first visited in 2018. Most households still lacked electricity and running water. Their daily struggles were invisible and unimaginable to someone like me, living a modern, convenience-filled life in the 21st century.
This series documents the villagers' everyday lives in 2018, focusing on a few characters: a crippled elderly man reading his beloved literature book, a blind man who, with no family or carer, learned to care for himself, and a group of workers laboring to dig gutters for the village.
In Chinese, Laojing means “old well.” But it isn’t the villagers who are trapped under it—we are.
- 2025 Curatory Magazine Volume 4, feature artist
- “inEquality” Exhibition, Photo Frome Festival, Roseberry Road Studios, Bath, UK