photographer

Meet Claudia Rocha, videographer for Bound Feet Blues

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Claudia Rocha filmed Yang-May’s TEDx talk in 2013 and went on to film the scratch night performance of Bound Feet Blues in March 2014 at Conway Hall. She has stayed with the team ever since, capturing the showcase performance in Oct 2014 and is now going to be filming the show for two nights of the Bound Feet Blues full production run in Nov/ Dec this year.

Claudia Rocha, videographer

Claudia Rocha

Claudia Rocha is a freelance photographer and cinematographer, originally from Portugal, now based in London. She has worked on documentary films as well as photo shoots for Vogue Portugal, NY Mag and other magazines. http://byclaudiarocha.com/ 

 

Here is her highlights edit of the showcase performance of Bound Feet Blues:

Continue reading →

The Last Bound Feet Women of China [video]

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Photographer Jo Farell is documenting the last women in China with bound feet. This timely and important project tells the stories of these last remaining women who suffered the brutal practice of footbinding through intimate and respectful black and white photos.

This video gives an overview of the project and also outlines some the history and reasons for this ancient Chinese social tradition.

She funded this project via Continue reading →

Decades after the practice of bound feet died out, women are still mutilating their bodies in the name of beauty [Bound Feet Blues]

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

This is a fascinating article about Chinese photographer Ji Yeo and her project to photograph women in the recovery room just after cosmetic surgery – See http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2014/mar/18/ji-yeo-cosmetic-surgery-frontline

According to the Guardian, she hated her body when she was younger – which was tied into her low self esteem –  and looked into having cosmetic surgery.

She didn’t have the surgery but started the Beauty Recovery Room photography project instead, taking photos of women just after cosmetic surgery.

A shot from Ji Yeo's Beauty Recovery Room series

As I’ve been thinking about bound feet and why women in China did that to themselves for my story performance Bound Feet Blues, I’ve been so much more aware of issues around women and their self esteem, body image, the role of fashion as power and body mutilation/ modification.

This project is particularly striking for me because it involves Chinese and East Asian women – symbolically making Continue reading →