Facekini

In 2014, Peng Yangjun took portraits of middle-aged and elderly women wearing facekinis on the beach in Qingdao, and compiled them into the book "Facekini (Paperback Edition)". Like a beach fashion show, the women in the image wear homemade facial kinis and pose confidently and proudly. In addition to being humorous, it reflects a dramatic and surreal corner of Chinese society; it also attempts to explore the way people view their aging bodies.

"Most people may find it funny and funny - of course humor is part of the message I want to convey, but in addition to being entertaining, this series of portraits is also a way of exploring how people look at their own bodies. I hope Everyone thinks this is an interesting portrait, a surreal, dramatic and humorous portrait of Chinese characters, which is very similar to the current situation in China. The entire Chinese society is full of surreal landscapes; this set of portraits attempts to record these An ephemeral landscape.

These masks are basically made by themselves. They will use discarded vests, old clothes, old swimsuits and even old pants to sew and stitch them into masks, so you won’t find the same mask on the beach; a mask usually has fabrics of different materials, you can even say Very artistic. They will consider whether it matches the swimsuit, or simply customize the whole body by themselves, and the colors are often very bright.

In fact, they also know that others will find it ridiculous and weird. But they will explain that its main function is sun protection. In recent years, there has been pollution in the coastal waters, and many jellyfish have appeared to hurt people. Wearing a facekini is not easy to sting. There is another meaning, that is, if you look at the beach, young girls don’t wear it, men don’t wear it, and basically only middle-aged and elderly women wear this kind of mask. So I think another important reason is that these middle-aged and elderly women are beginning to be ashamed to expose their aging and deformed bodies. Wearing a mask will make them more comfortable and confident, so I still don’t know what these people I photographed look like. . ──Peng Yangjun