MITANI / I did nothing other than to tell them to smile

“Hot soup on the table, cotton clothes, a television set that never turns off.”
These are the things that make up a traditional Chinese family.

My parents got married on November 7, 1990, and celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in 2020. In China, this milestone is referred to as the "Pearl Wedding." In today's society, spending 30 years together is something many people deeply admire. 

One day, my parents said, “We’ve never taken wedding photos before. Since you’re studying photography, could you take some for us?” This simple request became the starting point for this project. 

The inspiration for this work came from the aesthetics of family albums and snapshots from the Kodak Brownie camera era. As a result, I named the project I did nothing other than to tell them to smile. 

Like most family portraits, the subjects in my photos would create smiles in front of the camera and say “cheese” to me. However, there were moments when the shutter failed to capture the perfect timing, leaving their crafted smiles frozen or their eyes caught mid-blink.

Yet, the joy embedded in those fleeting moments was always genuine. 

—Wei Zihan

Wei Zihan
Born 1994 in Shandong, China. Now based in Tokyo. Graduated as master degree from Musashino Art University, major in Imaging Arts and Sciences. Currently in postgraduate school of Tokyo University of the Arts major in Inter-media Art. Her works are mainly based on ordinaries in daily life, about the relationship between individuals and spaces, also the surroundings. To deliver the concept, She mainly focused on photographic installation to discover the balance within interdependence and mutual explanation. Her work has been exhibited at galleries and museums in Japan and abroad.
www.xibaow.com

Pages: 36
Dimensions: 175 × 205 mm
Format: Softcover
Language: Japanese, Chinese, English
Year: 2025
Publisher: Place M