Photographer Yang Xin takes free “funeral portraits” for elderly people in remote villages, and learns about their attitude to life and death
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A photographer of the elderly
Yang Xin: Granny, are you on your own?
Granny: Yes, yes. My children all left for work.
Yang Xin: Give me a bigger smile, okay? You still have some teeth, right? Open your mouth a bit more and smile.
Granny: No teeth left, young lady.
Yang Xin: (laughs) Now that’s a sweet smile! One, two, three!
The above is a conversation between a photographer and an elderly lady, taking place in a remote rural village somewhere in the mountains of China.
Granny lives by herself. Her children have moved out of the village to seek work and a better future. This dialogue probably conveyed to you the relaxed and happy atmosphere of the photo shoot. In tune with the camera shutter, Granny grins and her smile is instantly frozen in a photo. However, there’s something you should know—the image itself isn’t for her to keep around.
Rather, it’s meant to be a ”funeral portrait (遗照)” to be hung over the coffin when Granny passes away, with copies displayed on the tombstone and in the homes of her descendants afterward.
Our narrator today is the photographer, Yang Xin. She was born in 1985. Over the past four years, Yang and her team have taken the funeral portraits of nearly 3,000 elderly villagers. What’s more, they do it free of charge.
Most of these grandpas and grannies are empty-nesters living in remote mountainous areas. Other than their ID card photo, this funeral portrait is the only picture of themselves many of them will take in their entire lives. This is Yang’s story:
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