You don't know what I am thinking

The photos were taken between 2022 and 2025. The people photographed are children who have recovered from leukemia. Each one is photographed with eyes closed, recalling the most memorable moment of their treatment. What was that moment about? As a photographer, I don't know, and I don't want to ask. It's their secret. The first idea to shoot was from Li Ruiling. She is a nurse at Zhangzhou Hospital in China. In the 2022 summer, I went to the Zhangzhou beach to photograph the party of children recovering from leukemia. Before bye, Li said: “The photos you took, we will send to the children newly diagnosed with leukemia, to help them build confidence.” The words came as a complete surprise to me. After all, there are two key points in the cancer matter: first, money, and second, confidence. In 4 years, I've been to beach parties for kids 4 times. I also drove more than 9,500 kms in Fujian Province, walked into more than 30 houses, met the cured patients, and made photos for them. Susan Sontag wrote in The Metaphor of Sickness: ‘We are born citizens of the kingdom of health, but sooner or later we will enter another kingdom called sickness.’ To understand disease correctly is to understand human being. However, there are many mistakes in China's cognition of leukemia. Ignorance breeds fear, and fear breeds discrimination. STIGMA of ILLNESS becomes a nightmare for some kids. The people hope that their portraits will be seen by children in the world who are still fighting leukemia, bringing them the luck and confidence of recovery. That's why they're willing to face my camera. I hope to expand the scope of my shooting to cover the entire China, and shoot 100 recovered leukemia patients within 2 years. Perhaps I have discovered the ultimate value of photography on earth: TRY TO SAVE A LIFE.