Jiehao Su: “Borderland” – Reconstructing Personal Memories

In the late winter of 2012, I began to work on “Borderland,” an ongoing project deeply rooted in my personal history. Like a mirror of sorts, “Borderland” reflects my years of drifting and discovery in eastern and southern China. Perhaps more importantly, this work documents a life not dissimilar from my own childhood in suburban Guangdong.

China –

Borderland is a project deeply rooted in my personal history. I spent my early twenties living a nomadic life in China, trying to escape from the sorrow of my mother’s sudden death when I was 18. After years of wandering, I began work on Borderland in 2012 as a way to look inward and recall my early memories, to reflect on my identity, and to search for a sense of belonging.

As I returned to some places in my mind, revisiting moments from the past, I construct a personal narrative with a mix of atmospheric portraits and landscape, as well as intimate still life details. Together the images comprise a delicate, phlegmatic and melancholic meditation on my personal history.

My aim is to rebuild my self-awareness through an autobiographical portrait of my homeland, as well as to seek comfort through reconnection to the past. In this sense, Borderland is an intimate work of remembrance, tenderness, and self-consolation. Jiehao Su’s Borderland was exhibited at FotoFestiwal, Poland.