A smile, a glance, a hope, a thought. Our subjects were happy to spend time with me in front of my Mamiya. Some were shy at first, a few changed their minds and decided not to take part, but most accepted the challenge and generously agreed reveal something of themselves to Diane and to me.

For some time now taking photographs of passers-by has been something of a challenge, both in China and elsewhere; people are terrified when they see a lens focused on them, like being caught in the sight of a rifle. The image is the number one means of communication today, for information, disinformation and manipulation. That is not my kind of photography and nowadays I only photograph people who have agreed in advance to have their picture taken.

It strikes me that China is a society where there is very little opportunity to express oneself, to talk about one’s desires and frustrations. The individual is utterly insignificant in the face of the group; this is, even more than a Marxist idea, a fundamental aspect of Confucianism. It is one of the basic aspects of Chinese philosophy and yet it often serves to crush people and to smash personal initiatives. This has resulted in an attitude towards the world which is fundamentally different to the Western way of seeing things. It is as hard to understand for the expert as for the uninitiated.

The hours we spent interviewing so many different people allowed us to get a little closer to understanding these different ways of thinking. Some of our subjects had never taken the time to slow down and ask themselves basic questions; they looked at Diane without really understanding when she asked them straightforwardly, ‘Are you happy?’ ‘What do you want in life ?’ ‘What is your dream in life?’ Many were rather proud that we were interested in what they thought, others agreed to participate as a favour to a friend, others exulted in the opportunity to talk about things that they never usually get to discuss. Diane worked with extraordinary patience, interpreting both words and silence to get closer to each interviewee, to tease out a details or underline a thought.

We were faced not only with a language barrier but also with the challenge of how to express important things without necessarily dwelling on every detail. Diane rose magnificently to this challenge, managing to tease out a little secret or an unexpected detail from each interviewee. The portraits that she has written beautifully convey the particular way of speaking or the tone of voice of each person. I was absolutely bowled over when I read the interviews, stunned by the wealth of sincerity and intimacy and the way in which she, the interviewer, almost totally disappears from the text, allowing the reader the illusion of having spent a few minutes alone with each person.

The photographic portraits are there to confirm the fact of each encounter, to remind us that each of us is an exceptional individual, that we are all photogenic. The poses are straightforward, there is no trickery; I don’t like to tell people how to stand. To be yourself is usually enough.