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‘After three years apart, three precious weeks reunited me with Mum. I felt I’d never truly seen her as herself; her anxieties, fears, regrets and affections had been shielded from view so that she could become this mother of mine. Yet, for the first time, tear-stained, she told me stories I had never known. She exuded childlike joy among orchids and succulents. Her hand sought mine on our walks. You’ve loved as much as you can, Chunyi. And I’ve started to see that now, Mother.’
Shelley Xue is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist and arts worker from Guangdong, China. Her practice engages photography, personal objects and archives as ways of remembering, reconnecting and reflecting on family and home.
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024 Art Handlers’ Award
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