shashasha

Between 2015 and 2023, New York-based photographer Wen-You Cai (daughter of the artist Guo-Qiang Cai) traveled four times to her parents' hometown of Quanzhou in the Minnan region of southern China to attend the funerals of deceased relatives. Although initially unfamiliar with the ceremonies, Wen-You Cai took on the role of a funeral photographer to observe and participate. In her photographs, she documents the various processes unfolding around her, as well as the grief and community of her family. But her experience of the complex rituals, drama, traditions, and folklore also became a way for her to confront her own mortality and fear of death. Throughout the book, several short essays (by the artist herself, her family's funeral director, a monk, and a folk culture expert) and interviews further explore the meaning of death and funeral rituals.

“At the end of a Minnan funeral, after having spent several days bidding farewell to the dead, it is inauspicious to say ‘goodbye’ to the living, out of fear that you may have to attend another funeral too soon (…) There are so many ironies and contradictions in Minnan traditions. The intention of not saying goodbye is to prolong life and postpone the ultimate goodbye. ‘Goodbye’ is finite, so the graceful way to leave would be to do so without any fanfare.”
― from Wen-You Cai’s text “Trying to Accept My Mortality”

For more information on Wen-You Cai’s “Minnan Exit,” we recommend this short documentary about the book on Nowness.