This project bears witness to my life experience in Shijiayao Village, Shao Yuan Town, Jiyuan City, Henan Province, China.  I spent the first three years of my life there, while my grandparents lived there for nearly fifty years.  As time passed, considering the advancing age of my grandparents, my parents thought that the city could provide better medical care and living conditions.  Thus, fifteen years ago, they relocated my grandparents from the rural area to the city.  Despite the move to the city, the ancestral home and its belongings have not changed. Every festival we go back to our hometown to visit relatives and friends. Due to my decision to study abroad during high school, I’ve had scarce reunions with my family over the past six years.  Therefore, I always seize such opportunities to capture images of my grandparents with my camera, listening to their stories of the past and the land.

My grandparents were both farmers and never received a formal education, sustaining their livelihood in the rural area through farming and labour, relying on the land’s resources. My father worked hard and sought opportunities to lead our family out of rural life.  The fast-paced lifestyle of the city made the elderly, who were accustomed to rural life always feel out of place, they often longed for their hometown. Consequently, my father purchased a small vegetable garden in our residential area, providing a space for my grandparents to grow vegetables, temporarily soothing their desire to return to their hometown.

In recent years, there has been a call in my hometown to return cultivated land to forestry, resulting in many farmlands being used for afforestation, and farmers migrating to cities to seek jobs.  Despite these changes, the frequency of my grandparents returning home remains unchanged, but the number of friends they have back home is slowly dwindling.

The brightest street lamp in the centre of ShiJiaYao Village serves as the village’s post-dinner gathering spot, where conversations range from inquiries about job opportunities in the city, weddings in neighbouring households, visiting sick friends in nearby villages, to neighbours relocating to the city due to the arrival of new children who require the elderly’s care.  While the city rapidly develops, the nights in the countryside grow quieter.

The storytellers are gradually ageing, and the memories of our homeland are slowly fading away.  Standing atop the hills, the elderly seem to be softly murmuring, bidding farewell to their hometown.

In my creative process, I use large-format and medium-format film cameras.  Slowly winding, changing film, focusing, measuring light, and taking photographs intertwine with conversations with family members during the camera setup.  Distant memories are revisited repeatedly, delineating the changes spanning three generations.  The process of conversation and photography serves as a form of healing for everyone involved, and I have become the collector of these stories.

      这个项目是对我在河南省济源市邵原镇史家腰村生活经历的见证。在那里，我度过了出生后的三年，而我的爷爷奶奶则生活了将近五十年。随着时间的推移，父母考虑到老人年事已高，城市能提供更好的医疗和生活条件，十五年前将爷爷奶奶从山区迁至城市。老家的房屋和物件未曾改变，每逢节日，我们全家都会回乡探亲。因为在高中时期决定出国读书，过去六年我与家人团聚的时间寥寥无几，因此我总是抓住这样的机会，用相机记录爷爷奶奶的身影，聆听他们述说着过去和这片土地的故事。

      我的爷爷奶奶都是农民，未曾获得正式教育，在山区靠种植和劳动维持生计，他们依赖土地的资源。而我的父亲靠自己的努力带着家人们走出了大山。城市的喧嚣和快节奏让习惯了农村生活的老人感到陌生，他们常常怀念家乡。因此，父亲在我们居住的小区里购置了一块小菜园，为爷爷奶奶提供了一个种植蔬菜的空间，暂时抚平了他们回老家的心愿。

      近几年老家号召退耕还林，很多农田被用来植树造林，农民们也都离开大山前往城市务工。老人回家的次数没变，能说上话的朋友却越来越少了。

      史家腰村村中心最亮的路灯，是整个村落晚饭后的聊天室，话题从最早的打探哪里可以务工赚钱、谁家最近要结婚吃酒席，到邻村的朋友生病了要前去探望，或者是邻居搬去城市生活因为家里多了新的小孩需要老人照看。城市里发展迅速，农村的夜却越来越安静。

      讲故事的人都在慢慢老去，记忆中的故乡也正一点一点消逝。老人站在山头眺望远处，嘴里好像在轻轻地默念，那是在与家乡的告别。

      我在创作中使用大画幅胶片相机和中画幅胶片机，通过缓慢地上卷、过片、对焦、测光、拍摄，和家人的对话也在搭建相机的过程中被一次次构建。谈话和拍摄的过程对所有人来说都是一种疗愈。遥远的记忆被反复咀嚼，也由此勾勒出了三代人的变迁，而我也成了珍藏这些故事的人。