The portrait of children living in the rural area in China

The project of portraits was shot in 2019 at a school in Guizhou, where photographer Lin Xiao volunteered as a teacher for 6 years, from 2014 to now. The school has a nursery and year one to four. There are 127 photos in total, and 122 of those has permissions to portraits. The age of the children in the mountain range from 3 to 10 years old, with the ethnicities of, Miao, Buyi, Shui, Tujia, Yilao,….. and Han. As a result of international factories and mass Chinese productions, there is a rapid development of economy, many villagers seek jobs far from home and leave their children at home. The price for a better materialistic life is the emotional lack of love. The choice of this simplified style of portrait where only the head is shown, dissolves the background and external influences, also focusing on the faces. This is an attempt to explore the current lives of this group of children, and demonstrates to the viewers a social landscape with faces as the main focus. Through imagery, the photographer’s final goal is hoping to improve the emotional state of those photographed.