These are photographs of my grandparents' apartment in Shantou. My earliest memory of them, from perhaps when I was around 3 years old, was being with them in this space. When I took these photographs in 2018, it was my first time going back to China in many years, perhaps a decade. It was Chinese New Year and a lot had changed. I was still largely in the closet to my family and my mother made me promise to grow my hair long so I wouldn't look too gay. By this point my grandfather had already been dead for many years and my grandmother lived in this apartment by herself. My mother and I stayed with my grandmother, who would always make me delicious food for breakfast like rice and eel soup or fry up some special sticky rice cakes with mung bean paste inside that were unique to Shantou. 

Whilst in Shantou my mother took me on the ferry to see her old middle school. She studied really hard and managed to land a spot in one of the most prestigious schools in the area called Shantou Jinshan middle school, and she made my grandmother very proud. It's located in a scenic area with pretty trees and water views.

Since going back to Shantou in 2025 things have changed a lot. My grandmother had a bad fall and she no longer is able to live here alone. I didn't realise at the time that they might be the last photographs I would take of that place.