"My Parents"

      This series of photographs called My Parents was taken in 1998 by Song Yongping.   Song Yongping emerged in the 1990’s with the artistic genre called “the pictures of the sad world” (“Photography from New China[1]).  Song Yongping expresses his concerns with the impact of economic reformation on the society by showing his understanding on the living attitude through his photographs (Photography from New China”[2]).  Over the course of the series, Song Yongping’s parents go through depression while standing in the same poses to show their loss (“Song Yongping”[3]). These photos show the change in China throughout the years.

      These photographs demonstrate the suffering of his ill parents throughout the years.  In these photographs, the first photo was taken of his parents when they were healthy and proud before the change in China.  The second picture is taken without their clothes on which represents that they have nothing to be proud of. In the next picture, they are wearing their wedding dresses and they do not look very happy. The last three pictures demonstrate death and sorrow.  The first photo is different than the rest of the pictures because the first photo demonstrates pride as for the other ones depicts mourning. 

     These photos go along with the theme, loss of dignity, because it shows Song Yongping’s parents slowly losing pride by becoming weaker and more ill in each photo.  In the first photo, his parents are standing up straight and his father is wearing his uniform which shows pride in their country.  In the second photo, they do not have any clothes which demonstrate they do not represent their country anymore and do not care about their poise.  They do not stand up straight which shows that they are ill and weak.  In one photo, they are wearing their wedding outfits which show that they miss past when they were happy and healthy and in last three photos depict death.  In all these photos, they are slowly losing their dignity even more to the extent where all their belongings are destroyed except their wedding picture. His parents went from being proud and feeling worthy to being in mourning with their life.

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[1]  "Photography from the New China," J. Paul Getty Museum, <http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/new_china/>.

[2] Ibid.

                [3]   "Song Yongping," Chinese Avant-gard Art Archive, <http://wason.library.cornell.edu/Wen/song_yongping.php>.