Wild Poppy

‘WILD POPPY’

In China I heard the phrase ‘faded pearl’. It describes women that are no longer young and beautiful at a certain age and have lost some of their value. Where getting married at an early age is mostly not a question but a factuality, the younger generation is starting to question how the traditional Chinese lifestyle still fits their way of life and love relationships.

I was introduced to Poppy a twenty year old Art student. She has a very passionate view on love and strong ideas about being an independent modern woman. More and more young women are finding their own voice in China against expectations of deep-rooted traditions in society. There is a huge gap between the generations. Traditional morals and standards put a heavy pressure on young people. The first time I met Poppy she showed me a diary filled with love letters that she had written to her ex-boyfriend. She told me most boys she dates expect her to behave less wild. She has a tattoo of a poppy flower on her colar bone. Chinese flower experts recommend the Poppy for couples because it means a deep and passionate love between two people. According to Poppy it symbolizes ‘Revolt’. Poppy became my main subject and metaphor for modern young women and the dreams they have for their future.

In this photography and film project we see and hear Poppy and her dreams and thoughts about life and love. The main story is a love letter she wrote to an ex boyfriend, where she talks about longing to be the perfect woman for him. With ‘bigger boobs and longer legs’, and at the same time she writes him that she is having doubts about marriage as the only and ultimate expression of her love life.

This mixed feeling about moral standards is felt a lot among young Chinese women and men still trying to find their identity and gender roles.

In this series I want to present a poetic and reflective look on Chinese modern love, dreams and life goals. A view on the pressure that society puts on young people to get married and be successful, and the vulnerability of shaping future dreams that are not real yet.

All over China you see ‘ghost’ buildings and neighborhoods. Completely new but empty apartments. People buy an apartment as an investment to sell again. Or there are stories of parents that buy an apartment for their daughter hoping she will get married soon and live there. Often the apartment will stay empty for years.

Portraits of Poppy are alternated by portraits of apartment buildings and of city-parks. The places where young people are looking to build a home and a family.

Some parks and buildings don’t exist in real life yet though.

Photographs of promising model buildings and parks are alternated with real parks and views from yet to be inhabited apartments.

A mixture of living and dreaming.

The younger generation is not always willing to get married without having found real love first. They are willing the risk of living the life of a faded pearl.