On the Playground
In 2020, as part of my graduate research, I traveled to Miaoba Town, situated in the mountainous region of Zhaotong, Yunnan Province, to document the local educational conditions. Surrounded by rugged mountains, Miaoba serves as a hub for children from surrounding remote villages, who must leave their homes to board at school from a young age. For these children, education is seen as the only path out of poverty, but it comes with great challenges. Every week, they carry heavy schoolbags over the mountains to return home, and the school environment they inhabit is marked by a strict regimen.
My project focuses on Huangcao Elementary School, where I documented the students during their weekly flag-raising ceremonies. Like many schools in China, these ceremonies are highly structured, with children standing in disciplined rows while teachers deliver speeches. Over the course of 2020 and 2021, I returned to the school multiple times to capture the children’s expressions and postures during these moments of enforced discipline.
This project seeks to reflect the complex reality faced by these children. In impoverished regions like Miaoba, such strict educational practices are seen as the only way to give children a real chance to change their futures, to break free from the cycles of poverty. Yet, for the children themselves, this system can feel harsh and unforgiving. The photographs capture their confused, innocent expressions as they face a form of education that is both necessary and, at times, cruel. Their worn, ill-fitting clothes and youthful, bewildered faces contrast starkly with the seriousness of the ceremony, highlighting the tension between their vulnerable state and the discipline they must endure. This work is not intended as a critique of the education system but as a reflection on the unavoidable hardships faced by those living in poverty, and the sacrifices required for a hope of a better future.