People: Portrait (PROFESSIONAL) - HONORABLE MENTION
The Dongting Lake People

Photo © Amy Luo
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In February 2017 I returned to my hometown of Yueyang in China’s central Hunan province. During my visit, I met with an elderly fisherman while buying fish and was invited to visit his family living in a small boat in eastern parts of the nearby Dongting Lake. It turned out that he was a member of the Dongting Lake people, a community of as many as 10,000 fishermen who came from six Chinese provinces and live in boats on China’s second largest lake.
My encounter has thus introduced me to a vast inner world of an enclosed community. The fishermen seek a living mainly by fishing in the enormous lake. Scattered either in remote parts of the lake or in faraway tributaries, and therefore largely unknown to the outside world, it is essentially a subordinated, impoverished and isolated community. Faced with circumstances including dramatic lake shrinkage, factory pollution, displacement, and ageing, their traditional way of life is rapidly falling apart. As I spent more time with them, my subsequent visits revealed a spiritual world nurtured by nature myths and guided by a strong sense of community and shared rituals.
In 2015, Luo graduated from the International Centre of Photography (ICP) in New York. She was the recipient of the 2015 Rita K. Hillman Award for Excellence, ICP. Luo has been cited with a number of awards for her series “Dreams” including being placed as a finalist for Fine Art photography in the first edition of the Magnum Photography Awards in 2016. The series has been selected into the American Photography (AP 33). Her fine art series from Tibet has won the 2017 IPA awards and PDN Faces First Place. The series has been included into the 2017 Photolucida TOP 50 list.
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In February 2017 I returned to my hometown of Yueyang in China’s central Hunan province. During my visit, I met with an elderly fisherman while buying fish and was invited to visit his family living in a small boat in eastern parts of the nearby Dongting Lake. It turned out that he was a member of the Dongting Lake people, a community of as many as 10,000 fishermen who came from six Chinese provinces and live in boats on China’s second largest lake.
My encounter has thus introduced me to a vast inner world of an enclosed community. The fishermen seek a living mainly by fishing in the enormous lake. Scattered either in remote parts of the lake or in faraway tributaries, and therefore largely unknown to the outside world, it is essentially a subordinated, impoverished and isolated community. Faced with circumstances including dramatic lake shrinkage, factory pollution, displacement, and ageing, their traditional way of life is rapidly falling apart. As I spent more time with them, my subsequent visits revealed a spiritual world nurtured by nature myths and guided by a strong sense of community and shared rituals.
About author:
Born and raised in southern China, Amy Luo obtained her Master's degree in Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh and went on to further her research at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Since her graduation, Luo has been engaged with feature film projects, documentaries as well as news reportages both in China and abroad.In 2015, Luo graduated from the International Centre of Photography (ICP) in New York. She was the recipient of the 2015 Rita K. Hillman Award for Excellence, ICP. Luo has been cited with a number of awards for her series “Dreams” including being placed as a finalist for Fine Art photography in the first edition of the Magnum Photography Awards in 2016. The series has been selected into the American Photography (AP 33). Her fine art series from Tibet has won the 2017 IPA awards and PDN Faces First Place. The series has been included into the 2017 Photolucida TOP 50 list.
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