221A Artist Run Centre is pleased to present My Big Family, a long-term and ongoing project by Vancouver-based artist Hua Jin. In the summer of 2010, Jin traveled to seven places in Northern and Eastern China equipped with one hundred rolls of film. Through photography, video and sound, Jin documented the lives of over fifty people in her immediate and secondary family. More than just a family portrait, this project attempts to illustrate the changing family structure in China and the gradual disappearance of traditionally large families since the inception of the One-child Policy.
In the beginning of the 1970s, the Chinese government began to promote population control; subsequently, the One-child Policy was first applied in 1978 to urban areas of China. Every couple is now restricted to no more than one child as a way of controlling the rapidly growing population in China. Controversial, critical and effective as it is, the execution of the One-child Policy marked the beginning of a changed family structure and the society it exists in.
Born in 1976, Jin has a twin sister, but it was typical for her parents’ generation to have several siblings. “My Mother had three brothers. My father had four brothers and two sisters. I have a twin sister, but most of the people my age or younger were born under the One-Child policy.”(Jin Hua). Under this policy, the fundamental Chinese ideology of a prosperous family with a large number of offspring is gradually and steadily fading. Nowadays, the traditionally large families of the previous generation do not extend to the current or the future generation. The society is getting older; the families are getting smaller.
Contrary to individualism common in western cultures, China emphasizes and thrives on the idea of collectivism. Its large population is guided by the Confucius philosophy, “each individual is part of a whole”. The concept of family and community is not only crucial to the shaping of individual identity, but also effects the development of the whole nation. China is undergoing its biggest economic and social transformation over the last three decades. With the shrinking of family size due to the introduction of the policy, accelerated pace of life, and urbanization and migration, value systems have also undergone significant transformations. Increasingly, diversity in financial brackets, living conditions, educational backgrounds and lifestyle are becoming more and more common in China, even within the same family. Changes are happening not only to the existing family structure, but also to the dynamic between family members. At this turning point, to document, examine and question such changes forms the conceptual base of Jin’s project.
On a personal level, My Big Family is a continuously evolving diagram of Jin’s own big family. It has been three years since Jin left China to become a Canadian citizen. The vast physical distance between Jin and her family has triggered powerful emotions; one such is the regret of not having taken photographs with her parents, who passed away several years ago. However, their stories are kept and told by other family members. Through documenting her sister, grandma, uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces, Jin captures traces of her parents and the memories they left behind. With the help of everyone in her big family, Jin stays connected – not only to the present, but also to the past and the disappearing.
我出生在1976年10月的唐山，地震刚刚结束，被摧毁的基础设施都还没有恢复起来。母亲说，地震当天她在厂里，一同值班的老师傅感觉不对拉她一起逃，前脚刚离开，后脚屋就塌了。震后家里就开始重新修盖房子，对于刚出生的我来说，这个重新修建的家跟我有着同样的年龄。我有一个双胞胎妹妹，人都说一逃逃出来三条命，更多人说“大难不死，必有后福”。可惜父母去世的都早。这个摄影项目的展开和拍摄的初衷，是出于我对父母的怀念。
我二零零七年底来到加拿大温哥华。一个人在外求学，陌生和孤独让我想家。先想父母，想妹妹，再慢慢的，想还在河北老家生活的奶奶、叔叔、姑姑、婶婶、舅舅、舅妈，以及我的堂表兄弟姐妹们。一个人的时候会有时间和空间想很多事情。父母生前我没有好好地给他们拍过一张照片，懊悔不已。但是我想我还有一个大家庭，还来得及给我父母的兄弟姐妹们，我的叔叔姑姑舅舅们，以及他们的家庭拍照；他们构成了“我家”。生活在不同的城市和地区，他们的经济，文化，教育背景和生活方式都不甚相同，但同时又有着如此亲密的血缘关系以及微妙的人际关系。这就是中国传统的大家庭。
如今，这样的家庭结构已经发生变化。七十年代末八十年代初，中国的计划生育政策直接导致了这种庞大家庭结构的萎缩。三十多年过去了，第一批独生子女也到了为人父母的年纪，而他们的孩子们将不会象我们一样有叔叔阿姨舅舅姨妈以及堂表兄弟姐妹了。时代变迁和中国特殊的发展轨迹改变了传统家族树的密度和形状，这种改变，直接影响着中国的现在和未来，并且在社会经济文化层面，在人们的价值观上具体体现出来。
我想用影像纪录下我的大家庭，给我的奶奶、叔叔婶婶、姑姑姑父、舅舅舅妈以及他们的孩子－我的兄弟姐们拍照，同时也通过这样的方式缅怀我的父母。有许多属于父辈这一代的东西值得我们珍视和保留，我想用我的影像来留住这些正在逐渐逝去的。
靳华
Events
Opening Reception: 8:00pm, 28 Jan 2011
Artist Talk: 2:00pm, 19 Feb 2011
Documentation
