shashasha

“An ethereal light can definitely be seen in her images, flickering like rays reflecting on the surface of the water.” — from Keiko Nomura’s foreword

Xia Boqian’s photobook “Cupboard Memories” focuses on unshareable secrets, unfulfilled desires and irredeemable opportunities.
The book is an amalgamation of two series: Her “Out of the Closet” series portrays people who suffer, in private, from trauma or experiences in their life—from homosexual women experiencing discrimination to women bullied for their weight. Mixed in are photographs which cover secrets that are lighter in nature—hidden emotions and affections, daily embarrassments, daydreamt romances etcetera. Boqian’s photographs employ improvision and intimacy to stage short, poetic moments of freedom, in which her subjects share, for an instance, their unspeakables.