#sentientbean

  This image is currently on view and for sale at the Beanies After Hours show at the Sentient Bean (13 East Park Ave, Savannah, GA). The show will be up through the end of May.

Xiejagiao, China -  2008

Xie Sulian, a 76-year-old retired farmer, describes her stomach ailment while at her home in Xiejagiao, a small village outside of Hangzhou, China. Sulian suffers from constant stomach pains, which have forced her to stop working the fields, drastically lowering her income and yet, she cannot afford to go see a doctor to heal herself. The village of Xiejagiao is a unique village in rural China in that the Communist Party of China has funded large scale residential builds outs for many of the farming residents. While the village is rural and small in population, huge multi-room and multi-floored homes fill the streets. Notably, because the families were so accustomed to living together in one-room homes, many continued to all sleep in the same room in these large homes, leaving many rooms empty. It is somewhat mysterious as to why this village was chosen to receive such lavish homes from the Party, but Sulian was convinced that because she did not receive a new home like many of her neighbors, she was purposefully being excluded, perhaps because of her illness and inability to work.

  Framed Archival Print  $225

L.A. Reno Photography