A True Story
2022
Photo book series: Inkjet on paper and colour cards
14.8 x 21 cm
A True Story is a collection of photo books exploring childhood trauma against the backdrop of China’s socio-economic reforms during the 1990s. Employing autoethnographic methods, it situates a boy’s lived experience within a period of rapid economic growth and profound social transformation.
Combining photography, CGI, autoethnographic writing, and bookmaking, the project takes the form of a set of small booklets inspired by children’s allegorical storybooks. Each presents a self-contained narrative that traces a boy’s first encounters with adulthood and examines the often-invisible exercise of power through his eyes. Together, these stories reveal the shifting moral landscape that accompanied China’s transition towards a market economy.
