Still by Simin Jing
Simin Jing uses her camera to document the traces left behind after something happens – and the way the body responds to the effects life events have on it. At the Degree Show she presented film and digital shots, including self-portraits, building a narrative across a sequence of images.
MA Photography Practice student Simin Jing made a series of major life decisions, including quitting her job, getting divorced and moving abroad, and was struck by the after-effects these had on her. "Slowly I realised that some experiences don't end when the events themselves are over. Instead, they sink into the body and become a state that stays," she said.
Many of the images are quiet. They record moments that are easy to overlook. I hope viewers might recognise something of their own experience in these photographs, and reconnect with feelings and inner voices that are often pushed aside or left unheard in everyday life.
Simin Jing, MA Photography Practice
Similarly in her photography, Simin looks for traces left behind after events have taken place. Over the course of the project Simin's view of photography shifted from being a way of recording things, to a way of thinking and making sense of the world.
Simin explained, "What interests me is not the event itself, but the traces it leaves behind, and those easily overlooked moments, pauses, waiting, hesitation, sleeplessness, and the ways the body responds to what life leaves on it."
For me, photography is not only about recording reality, but also a way of looking at these experiences again and gradually understanding them.
Simin Jing, MA Photography Practice
Though her project began through focussing on her own experiences, it broadened out to explore the experiences of contemporary women and the pressures they carry with them. She began to explore women's embodied experiences, and the socil realities they live within through her work.
