shashasha

Youqine Lefèvre’s opens her work “The Land of Promises” with a copy of an adoption certificate – her own. She was one of a group of Chinese girls adopted by Belgian parents in 1994, a consequence of China’s excessive approach to population growth control and a complicate relationship between the west and the east.

In the photobook, Lefèvre uses the journey of the six Belgian families in 1994 (told through archival photographs) as a starting point from which she investigates the situation in the present. While it was Belgium that must have seemed like the Promised Land in 1994, now China – her birth country – holds that magic. Lefèvre involves researchers of China’s demography, experts on the birth control policy as well as testimonies, statements and portraits of people she met during her travels in China, weaving objective viewpoints and her personal perspective into a multifaceted exploration of identity, roots, cultural differences and the nature of promises.

All texts in English. Shortlisted for the 2022 Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards.