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January 20, 2019

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Finding oneself on a soul-searching return to a hometown

ENTITLED “Where My Heart Settles Down,” Wang Yingying’s photo project embarks on a self-searching journey. Compiled into a book, the project explores the landscape, people and life in Guantao, Hebei Province.

Wang’s father, a painter, was sent to Guantao for re-education during the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), and Wang was born there in 1976. Her parents were separated when she was young and later divorced. She has since been living in Hangzhou with her mother.

But she had a yearning to know more about her father.

At age 40, she decided to visit her birthplace, inspired by Chinese author Mo Yan, the Nobel Prize winner who once wrote” “The hometown is the land of blood ... This is where your mother bled when giving birth to you, where your embryo lay.”

She captures with her lens the landscape of her birthplace and the villagers who knew her parents. Collages run through the book, with photos juxtaposing her notes.

“I feel complete,” she said. “The people there told me about my father, how generous and sincere he was, I suddenly understand where my generosity toward friends comes from. I found myself during the journey.”

She said she will return to Guantao soon to wrap up the whole project.

Wang bought her first single lens reflex camera at age 36. Two years later she became an independent photographer and documentary film director.

One of her more popular works is “Forty: 1976,” a 2015 series that recorded 40-year-old Chinese women through portraits of 36 women born in 1976.

A photo book was published last year by the Zhejiang Photographic Publishing House. Many people of the post-90s generation commented on Weibo about their pleasure seeing the photos.

“Your works revealed for the first time what 40-year-old Chinese women are truly like,” a 24-year-old netizen wrote. “Now I know what I will face once day.”

Wang’s current project is a documentary film featuring ballrooms, a popular haunt for middle-aged Chinese.

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