September 2016

The village of Taitou in central Hebei province was hit hard by flooding in mid-July, following days of heavy rain. Photographer Chen Liang visited after the floodwaters had receded. Mud and dirt covered everything and vegetation and mold on the walls revealed the high-water marks where standing water had leveled off. In one disorienting image, a ceiling fan looks as though it is resting on a tile floor—until the viewer realized that the mud and water marks left from debris had reached the ceiling.

Liu Yin is a 32-year-old albino Chinese woman who goes by the nickname “Cici,” after the 1950s Austrian movie character Princess Sissi. When photographer Lijie Zhang met Cici in 2015, she had already been photographing people with rare diseases in China for several years. The two began a series of staged portraits in which Cici chooses her outfits and locations. Cici also writes the captions for each photo, explaining her thoughts and ideas behind each pose. Zhang’s work is part of a series called Female Focus.

Beginning in May, Liang Yingfei spent four months photographing Xiaobei Road in Guangzhou, which houses the largest African community in China. A series published in three parts, the first parts focuses on Serges de la Roche, who goes by the Chinese nickname Xiaolong (Little Dragon).

“If shared memory defines the close relationship between two people, and the memory is lost from one side,” wondered photographer Muyi Xiao, after she lost her grandmother to Alzheimer’s, “does the emotional attachment between the two still exist?” While living in New York City in 2015 and 2016, Xiao met 84-year-old Suzy (last name withheld), who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and her sister-in-law and main caretaker, Roz (last name withheld), and began to photograph their relationship.