RUOTONG GUAN
Is it Raining Outside, Is Summer Gonna End Just Like That?
The project “Is it Raining Outside, Is Summer Gonna End Just Like That?” explores the dynamic of the relationship between my mother and me, with the machinery manufactured factory that my mother owns as an intermediate.
I worked for my mother as a driver in 2021, taking her back and forth between our home and her factory. It gave me access to the factory, where I spent a lot of time walking around and observing. Being part of my mother’s business, I started to know her more, when she was more than being a mother. I saw her when she was busy, frustrated, and proud of her work. I knew the different sections in the factory, how it looked like, and how it smelled like. This experience reshaped the relationship between my mother and me. The more of her not being a mother, the less of me being just a daughter. I am no longer the one who only receives care from my mother. I become the one who provides the same support and care to my mother. The relationship changes from one-way caregiving to a two-adult being supportive and loving each other. Along the way, I made photographs of my mother both inside and outside her factory.
While the factory becomes the bridge between my mother and me, it is also the place where my mother puts incredible efforts for years to support our family. The experience of working with her in the factory makes me realize how difficult it is and how amazing my mother is to have a place as a female business owner in a such male-dominated industry in China.
“Is it Raining Outside, Is Summer Gonna End Just Like That?” is a question my mother asked me. That day in the factory office, with the late summer rain pounding on the window, she stood by that simple blue curtain and asked me that, but as if she were speaking to herself. It was a rare glimpse of my mother's somber, sentimental side that I'll never forget.
Through photographs, this project presents the development of familial relationships and conveys the strength of women.