“The Land gives me rice, Rice gives me Life”
Interview with five rice farmers turned photographers
“The Road of Rice” - The rice farmers swapped their farming tools
for cameras to document one year in the life of their villages, to communicate
the importance of rice to their lives and livelihoods of their communities. The
images they were able to capture show their love and passion for the land on which
they rely and, indeed, show similar feelings for their newly learnt skill -
photography.
Bearing witness – putting ourselves at the scene of environmental
destruction and capturing images in order to raise public awareness of the problems
- is one of Greenpeace’s core values. Li Ming Fu spoke of the message he
wanted to convey through his photographs “the life of farmers is hard, I wanted
to show this to the public.”
“Rice is life” - As the farmers were all novice photographers, they
had to overcome technical difficulties and face interesting challenges in the
process of producing the fantastic results that all could see on display at the
exhibition. “Photography was not easy as it was unfamiliar to us but we were all
interested in taking photos” said Li Zhi Kan. Xiong Gui Zhi explained her
experience “I was curious about working a camera. I wanted to record every part
of our lives.” When asked about their favourite photos, Bai Yun Xian, answering
for all the farmers, said, “all of them are our favourites as they’re all the
reflection of our real lives”.
When we asked the
farmers, who were all in Hong Kong for the
first time and were a little shy, “will you give up farming?” Bai Yun Xian said,
“absolutely not, rice is our life, we’re willing to devote our lives to it.” Xiong
Gui Zhi said, “ we can’t live without rice.”
As city dwellers, we have
lost the intimate, crucial connection that these rice farmers have with the
environment. Speaking to these farmers who maintain the richness and diversity
of the ‘food of life – Rice’, and who urgently wanted the world to understand
their connection to the land that gives them, and us, rice, gives us all food
for thought indeed.
