My mum

To me, my mum, 88 years old, is a mirror of her will to rise up in the life and overcome disease. I want to record some moments forever, not only in my mind and heart, but also in a tangible shape. I also chose objects that represent both her life now and objects and images drawn from the past. The object was not only seen in terms of its use value as a utility product, but also as cultural value, aesthetic value and sometimes imprints of history. My mum is a carrying wife, dedicated mother, and a woman with strong will and mind. She learned herself, become a successful literature researcher and critic. My family was enjoying a peaceful life, until one day in late 2012 when my father was getting sick. During his illness, my mum took care of him every day, at the hospital or at home. She has never complained a word, even thought she was exhausted by taking care of him. Since my father passed away, my mum got pain with the osteoporosis and spine osteoarthritis (symptoms). She could not move so all personal activities such as eating, hygiene were carried out in bed. We had tried all possibilities to cure her such as: injections, acupuncture, applying herbal medicine to her back... Over time she was getting better, and was able to walk and handle things by herself. But then my mum got breast cancer. She decided not to go for surgery, but has been taking medicine, praying daily and doing exercise. She is optimistic, not to mention her cancer to anyone. She still tries to go to the market, buy flowers and makeup to beautify herself. My mum and I have inherent contradictions and many of our conceptions of life are different. But when I photographed her objects, our relationship become more intimate. This is a personal story but I hope it will reach a certain number of viewers because everyone has a mother such as memory, loss, loneliness and love are always experiences that everyone has had at least once in their lives. My project “My mum” was started from February, 2016 and it is on-going. The last thing I want to say is I feel happy when see my mum "healthy" every morning.