Emptying

Ellen Mahaffy

Aarchival pigment

“The photograph “Emptying” is one in a series entitled West to East. In 2012, Mahaffy, a professor of Communication and Journalism at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UWEC), traveled to China with Xiangyun Chen, who is now a graduate student at Yale University. Their collaborative body of work represents their perspectives as an American visiting China for the first time and a Chinese student returning home. We spent three weeks exploring the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world, visiting cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, and Shanghai, as well as a series of villages. Given the vast and rapid changes brought by industrialization along the river, our photos explore the juxtaposition between simple, longstanding ways of life and the bravado of capitalism. This particular image captures a setting untouched by modernization. “Emptying” reveals a moment in the life of a man who resides in the ancient town of Xitang in Zhejiang Province, near Shanghai. I cannot say whether his home along a canal had indoor plumbing. Throughout our journey, I observed people emptying things into the river on multiple occasions — whether a bowl of dirty water, a flip-flop, or even themselves. This project is funded in part by the International Fellows Program at the Center for International Education (CIE) at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.”

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Size: 16″ x 20″

Price: $550

Contact aprilhc@eauclaire.lib.wi.us for details.