Unseen Faces
35mm black&white shot on film
Unseen Faces is a documentary work centers around several blind medical masseuses, who run a medical clinic in Shanghai. It includes a series of analogue photographic works that use Braille as its body and is embossed on a white piece of paper. The Braille translates the facial features of the masseuses, and their stories. With this project, it challenges its sighted audiences to step into the shoes of these masseuses by living their life of uncertainty, reading their stories by touching the Braille on the seemingly blank paper. To see the Unseen Faces and to know the untold stories is to experience the fragility of the sightless.
上海梅川路步行街的一头，有一座上了年份的写字楼，不高，一共七楼。在这座楼里，有着各种不同的小生意。楼上楼下经常走着送外卖的小哥，有的是去取货，走的是去找个地方地方歇脚。通过我爸爸搓麻将的好朋友，我们知道了在这座写字楼里，有一家盲人推拿店。这家店叫强身盲人保健。走进店里，我们认识了王老板。
有意思的是，我们发现这家店叫强身，不只是因为字面意思，也是因为王老板的名字是王强申。王老板给我们介绍了他的这家小生意。不到50平米的屋子被分成了三个区域：由三个保健床组成的按摩区，挂着“年年有余”的会客区，还有连着厨房的两间卧室。其中一间卧室里有两张上下铺的床，像是大学生的学生宿舍。王老板和我们说，他的两个徒弟就睡在这里，他们不是上海市区人，年轻的时候从郊区的盲人学校跟着他来到这里一起合伙开了这家店。王老板有家庭，太太和孩子住在附近的小区里，下了班他就回家去住。另一间卧室是店里的李阿姨住。李阿姨负责白天照顾这三个男人，给他们做饭和打扫工作区，夜里负责照顾王老板的两个徒弟。李阿姨看得见，与他们一起共事了十多年，李阿姨自己没有孩子，老伴去世后，这三个男人就是她家人。
和在中国看到的到多数的盲人不同，王老板是个外向的人。他愿意和我说话合作，因为他不是先天看不见，他知道也想念可以拿在手上的照片。他想让我们帮这家小店和他们四个人拍张照，尽管看不见。
At one end of Meichuan Road pedestrian street in Shanghai, there is an old office building, not tall, a total of seven floors. In this building, there are all kinds of small businesses. Through the floors, there are many delivery men, some to pick up goods, go to find a place to rest. Through my father's Mahjong mate, we know that in this office building, there is a medical blind massage shop. It's called QiangShen (translated as Wellness) Medical Blind Massage. Entering the shop, we met Boss Wang.
Interestingly, we found out that the store is called Qiangshen, not only because of the literal meaning, but also because the owner's name is Wang Qiangshen. Boss Wang introduced his small business to us. The house, which is less than 50 square meters, is divided into three areas: a massage area composed of three massage beds, a meeting area with a "nián nián yǒu yú" (translated as wish for surpluses and bountiful harvests every year) frame hanging, and two bedrooms connected to the kitchen. One of the bedrooms has two bunk beds, like a dorm for college students. Boss Wang told us that two of his students, who are not from downtown Shanghai, but followed him from the school for the blind in the suburbs when they were young, slept here, and they opened the shop together. Boss Wang has a family, his wife and children live in a nearby street, he goes home to live after work. The other bedroom is where Aunt Li lives in the shop. Li takes care of the three men during the day, cooking for them and cleaning the work area, and takes care of Wang's two students at night. Aunt Li is not a blind person, and they have worked and lived together for more than 10 years, Aunt Li herself has no children, after her husband passed away, these three men are her family now.
Unlike most blind people seen in China, Boss Wang is an outgoing person. He was willing to talk and work with me. Because he was not born blind, he knows and misses the photo prints that he could hold in his hand. He wanted us to take a picture of the shop with the four of them, even though he couldn't see it.
他的名字叫小徐。黑黑的头发在他的头上看起来有点乱。小徐和他在盲人技校一起上学的两个老朋友一起开了这家梅川路上的盲人推拿会所。小徐是个腼腆的人，不知道是不是因为天生看不见的原因，他不爱说话。通过对话我们发现，和他的朋友兼老板小王不一样，小徐并没有什么梦想，甚至没有计划。对于下个月或者是下个星期的事，小徐都不感兴趣。在和我们对话和拍摄的过程中，小徐被王老板叫去给客人推拿了。我们看到，他几乎没有什么表情，就算是和客人聊家常的时候。我们尝试着和小徐开开男生之间的玩笑，他也只是笑笑没有回应。和小徐见面的两天，他穿了两套不是很正式的西服。他虽然不爱说话，但我们知道小徐也有他想向我们说的故事。
His name is Xu. The black hair on his head looks a bit messy. Xu and two other old friends, who he met during his disability school years, ran a medical massage business. Xu is an introvert, we don’t know if it’s because he is born with blindness, he doesn’t like to talk. After we had a conversation, we found out Xu is different from Wang, his friend and boss, Xu doesn’t really have a dream, not even some life plans. As for what to do next week or month, he also isn’t really interested.
While we were shooting and talking, Xu was appointed to treat the next patient. We saw he very rarely had any expressions, even when he talked to the patient. We tried to joke with him, even so, he just smiled and didn’t respond to us.
During the two days we met with them, Xu had two different blazers on. He doesn’t like to interact with people, but we know Xu also has a story that he wants it to be told.
这个男人是王老板。 王老板和他的两个盲校朋友一起开了这家盲人推拿。王老板和他的朋友们不一样，他是一个健谈的人。他是我们联系到第一位热情欢迎我们采访和拍摄的盲人。他告诉了我们他们对这所盲人推拿的付出和感情，和客人之间的友情。王老板年纪看起来有五十多岁，他告诉我们他不是先天失明的，是年轻时一次意外导致的。所以他没有在盲校学习盲文，只是受了医术推拿的技术学习。他记得失明前的画面，与他交流时我们发现他更能理解我们说的一些事情。比如说相机和胶片是怎么运作的，或是一张照片装裱后在墙上是什么样的。王老板说了很多也问了很多，对我们像是几年没见的亲戚，想知道我们最近发生的一切。他太太中途给他打过一个电话，提醒他不要话说太多，但他却说：“去去去，别打扰我们聊天！”可能他没太多机会和人交流吧。
Some gray hair among his head. This man is the owner of this medical massage place, Wang. Wang and two of his friends that he met during his time in the disability school co-started this business. Different from his friends, Wang is a talkative person, he is the first blind person that really welcomed us to do the interview and photoshoot. He told us everything about this massage place, and the friendship he made at this place.
Wang looks like he is in his fifties, he told us that he was not born blind, but by an accident at his early years. He decides not to learn Braille, but returns back to the disability school to learn a skill for his living.
Wang remembers the things he saw before he lost his sight, he could also understand what we talked about better, like how camera and film works and how a framed photograph looks like on the wall.
Wang talked a lot and asked a lot, he treated us like a distant relative who wants to know everything about us. During the conversation, his wife called him and asked him not to talk too much, but he told her not to interrupt him. Maybe it’s because he needs a company to talk with him more often.
小江是王老板最先认识的盲人朋友，也是他的第一个徒弟。小江和王老板的关系很好，但不像是同龄人之间的友情，王老板更像是小江的长辈，像他的好爸爸。小江也不是先天看不见的，他很小的时候就有严重的高度近视，在上学不久便慢慢失去了视力。和小徐一起从王老板那儿学会了推拿的技术后，他们便在这条街上开了这家盲人推拿。小江是个外向的人，也爱学习新的技术和知识。店里他负责用手机和客人线上交流，他会使用苹果手机视力辅助模式。我们在的时候就看到他把手机贴在耳朵旁，熟练地使用特殊设计的手机键盘。在店里，他和做饭阿姨看的出来关系最好。虽然看不见，但他在没工的时候便会在厨房和阿姨说话，做做他能做的事。小江是个快乐的人，多亏与他，这个拍摄过程的气氛很活跃。
Xiao Jiang is Wang's first blind friend and his first student. The relationship between Xiao Jiang and Wang is very good, but unlike the friendship between peers, Wang is more like Xiao Jiang's elder, like his father. Xiao Jiang was not born blind, he had severe high myopia when he was very young, and soon after he started school, he slowly lost his vision. After learning the technique of massage from Wang together with Xu, they opened this medical massage shop on this street.
Xiao Jiang is an outgoing person and loves to learn new skills and knowledge. In the store, he communicates with customers online using his mobile phone, using an iPhone vision assist mode. We saw him holding the phone to his ear and skillfully using the specially designed keyboard. At the shop, he and the cooking lady seemed to have the best relationship. Although he could not see, he would talk to her in the kitchen and do what he could when he was not working.
Xiao Jiang is a happy person, and thanks to him, the whole process of interviewing and shooting was very lively.
