Moments frozen in time
Photographer's ongoing project captures candid images of strangers, exhibiting them years later to show how their lives have evolved, Wang Qian reports.
Some people didn't remember the project, and some didn't answer. There was also difficult feedback, such as the man who asked Zhang not to show the photo of him with his ex-girlfriend, and other reasons people didn't want their photos to be displayed.
When the subway driver answered, he said that he would take his child to the exhibition, without mentioning his wife, but he didn't show up, either.
The woman laughing with her friends answered saying she couldn't come, because she was undergoing chemotherapy.
Then, there was the couple who had tired of Beijing's fast pace of life and dreamed of living in Lijiang, Yunnan province. In their photo, taken in 2012, they are holding a blackboard with the words"Have you started your happy life in Lijiang?" written on it. Ten years later, the wife, now a 45-year-old mother, hadn't been able to realize that dream for a number of reasons, including work, needing to educate her child and healthcare matters.
As the exhibition unfolded, old faces reappeared, memories resurfaced, and emotions ran deep. Each participant's journey mirrored the complexities of life — regrets, aspirations and the enduring power of love and family.
In the midst of it all, Zhang discovered that he had found solace in the stories he had captured, and in the faces that had weathered the storms of time, solace that has since kept the once uncertain photographer on the hunt for fresh faces to photograph for exhibitions in the years to come.
