I never met my great grandfather, my only impression of him is through my mother's description. My mother seems to adore him very much. In January this year, when she was sorting out old objects, she found a family motto written by my great-grandfather before he died and took pictures and sent them to me. After I look at the instructions my great grandfather wrote, I had a strong interest to get to know him. I believe this is the reason that makes me want to go back to the place where he lived, for me, this is a journey to experience what he experienced and to go back to a place that's "home" and to find the "root". I try to use photos to understand a kind of “nostalgia”, which can be a kind of homesickness, let people yearn for the comfort of the family in memory; it can also be a sense of conservatism and security, but it also faces the unknown. It can't be accomplished, but it's something that everyone strives to achieve. In the process, “reality” becomes interesting. From the moment we left home, we became strangers who could not go back. I thought it was homesickness to miss my hometown in the distance. When I go back to my homeland where I miss all the time, I can't find my home anymore because I am already a guest. Only then I can understand the real taste of homesickness.
These are silver gelatin prints that rest in tea for 30 minutes, and all the words on the other side of the prints are from the Family Instruction, handwritten by me.
