“ Northern Dreams ”

There always a lot to get used to and compromise in their first year away from school or communities of the like. No one is there to take on various difficulties and responsibilities for them, and no one is to spend days and nights together with them like classmates would. In most cases, one has to sacrifice their life for their dreams, and learn to enjoy being on their own in the face of loneliness.are

I interviewed several people of similar ages, asked them questions about the difficulties they were faced with and the sorrow they felt, and recorded the loneliness, pain, and expectations they could not voice and had no one to share with in “Northern Dreams”. The photos were taken in the interviewees’ rooms, which also serves as their hiding places from the frustrations and devastations of the outside world. In this relatively private space, I documented through photography the subjects in their rooms, curled up in isolation and dejection in bed.

The warm colors of Christmas string lights hung on the wall would always give me a sense of warmth and belonging when I was living away from home. Adopting this image, I arranged the lights to form simple quotes from the subjects, the glowing sentences symbolizing the longings pending on their minds, that is, their hesitation to leave home, their fear of loneliness, their resistance to difficulties, and their reluctance to let go.