Kurbanjan Samat, a 32-year-old Uygur photographer, tells the stories of the Xinjiang people, who he says simply want to live, survive and hopefully thrive, just like everybody else. He came to national prominence due to his portraits of 100 Xinjiang people in his book I'm from Xinjiang. The book was released in the US for the first time this June, after the Chinese version was well received last year.
In an email interview, Kurbanjan talks with chinadaily.com.cn about his love of photography and his ambition to help the world understand people living in Xinjiang. [In photos: I am from Xinjiang]
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Kurbanjan Samat is a 32-year-old ethnic Uighur photographer, posing in front of his book I'm From Xinjiang at Javits Convention Center on Thursday, June 4, 2015 during the BEA in New York. Xiao Lixin / China Daily |
Q1: How did your love of photography develop? What were some of the biggest challenges you initially faced?
A1: On my 17th birthday, I decided to buy myself a guitar with the 3,000 yuan ($483) I had saved for a long time. However, on my way to the store I was captivated by a Phoenix D2000 camera and got a bang out of all its snapping sounds. Therefore I bought the camera as my birthday present instead and started shooting around. When I first got paid for publishing photos I took on campus, I thought photography was really amazing.
The biggest challenges came from thinking. Certainly photography skills need to be practiced all the time. However, without deeper understanding and thinking, I am just a photography lover, who takes photos of landscape as landscape, and takes photos of humans as landscape too. By thinking constantly, I can have my own thoughts about humans and society and taking photos of both landscapes and humans as humans. It is a challenge to seize the decisive moments of life through photography.
Q 2: What's your favorite location and why is it special?
A2: The bazaar (market) in Xinjiang. That is where the Uygur traditional culture lies.
Q3: In your book, I'm from Xinjiang, whose English version was recently launched in New York, you portray 100 Xinjiang natives working all across China and abroad. What motivated you to undertake this project and what message are you hoping to send through this book? Did the Chinese version accomplish what you wanted? Have you received any funds after the book was well received? Do you have a time table for the documentary "I am from Xinjiang"?
A3: The English version was published with the encouragement from Mr. Wang Meng (a famous writer in China). He said that he hoped the book could be translated into several foreign languages when its Chinese version was launched.
Later on I found that foreign media and foreigners have a very deep misunderstanding about Xinjiang after I talked to them. I think everybody is basically the same. Xinjiang is just a microcosm of the earth. What is happening in Xinjiang happens everywhere else. If the book could be translated into foreign languages and be introduced to more people, it will not only be the stories of Xinjiang, but the stories of the world and everyone could find an echo in it.
At the very least, readers of the Chinese version thought the book is good. Many young readers felt more confident, more goal-oriented and more willing to try to achieve goals.
I do not think I have become more famous after publishing the book. I am still working on my own stuff.
I have got financial support for the documentary. The documentary is what I initially wanted to make and I am very happy that it has got enough funds. We have starting shooting the documentary and it is expected to hit the theaters in October.
Q4: You have said that many living outside Xinjiang have a prejudiced view of the region. Most people portrayed in the book want to clarify that shish kebabs, raisins and being good at singing and dancing is not all Xinjiang is about. What do you think are the common characteristics of the people leaving Xinjiang to live in other parts of China? What are the personalities of the local people in Xinjiang? How do you describe Xinjiang to outsiders?
A4: People who leave Xinjiang and those who stay are basically the same as people from other regions. It depends on the environment. Big cities of the eastern part of China are very open and have a high degree of tolerance. People usually do not have conflicts on ethnic issues and beliefs except some annoying checks and the inconvenience brought by our unique names. There is no problem concerning names in Xinjiang and special checks are rare. However, a tense atmosphere is developed during these years. And as a result local people do not accept external culture and issues as easily as before and become more sensitive, which is common for the whole country, but especially for Xinjiang. In general, all the people are similar. Some people from Xinjiang are good and some are bad. However, people from Xinjiang have very high acceptance of other cultures because Xinjiang itself is a multi-ethnic place and a mix of cultures, so people are normally very tolerant and can respect different cultures.
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