The wind off the South China Sea sweeps across the beach of Donghai Island, Guangdong province, carrying its familiar briny scent. On an empty stretch of sand, Chen Liang stands beside an old house half-buried in sand — a side effect of land reclamation. He wears his late father’s dark-gray suit — too tight at the shoulders — and holds a leather suitcase and a black umbrella. After adjusting his Mamiya 7 camera and setting the self-timer, he walks to a mark in the sand, straightens his jacket, and waits for the shutter. The resulting photograph, part of his series “
Returning Home,” shows a man who appears to “return in glory,” though the landscape around him has been reshaped beyond recognition.
For a decade, Chen has photographed Donghai Island, shooting thousands of rolls of film and spending more than 400,000 yuan ($57,000) — enough, he notes, “to buy a decent apartment here.” His work has won awards and been widely exhibited.
At home, the response has been different. “In my mother’s eyes, I was the family’s greatest failure,” he says. No house, no children, no stable job — only “useless pictures.” He is now 41. In 2013, he returned to the island thinking he would stay. Today, he is preparing to leave again.
