Qian Hongyan

A word about the work

(EHAB003)
This photo comes from the in-depth feature on sport in China, « 1,3 billion athletes » by Elisa Haberer. She produced it before the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2007/2008. Elisa travelled all over China for 14 months to tell the story, from a sports point of view, of a country hosting the Olympic Games for the first time. It was an ambitious, long-term project, funded and supported by L’Équipe Magazine, that filled most of a special issue published on 2nd August 2008. 钱红艳12岁，游泳运动员，梦想参加2012年伦敦奥运会昆明，云南省 Qian Hongyan had the misfortune to cross a reckless driver’s path. As her parents couldn’t afford to buy her prosthetic legs, they built her a system to get around with out of a basketball. At the time of the photo, she was 12 and had been swimming for a year having discovered the sport through a competition for disabled swimmers. Qian Hongyan trained every day in the hopes of taking part in the London Paralympics and becoming queen of the pool as well as the pride and joy of her parents in a land of only children. (She is now 17, took part in the London Paralympics, and wears prosthetic legs).

« My China » The ambition of this photography project, which was born out of a desire to keep a record of what I saw and felt here, was to work on the details that highlight the differences but also trivialise them. (Elisa lived in Beijing for 6 years). In 2008, year of the Olympics, when all eyes were on the host country, analysing its every move, I thought it would be a good time to immerse myself in Chinese society. Sport is a fantastic vector for crossing geographical, cultural, political and social boundaries, even if in this case it only served as a pretext. Each image tells a smaller story that goes to make up the portrait of China today. In the Yun Zhi Nan club, swimmers hope that the Paralympics will help change attitudes to handicap in China. « Hidden out of shame or embarassment, handicap stirs feelings of compassion at best, but rarely any financial help » one of the club’s executives confided to me. Whereas China, top of the Paralympic medals tables, can boast training the best athletes in the world, I found it impossible to visit a school for disabled athletes and this club was the only one that opened its doors to me.

Jean-Denis’s choice

It is both tragic and gentle at the same time. This photograph portrays these two antinomic notions with simplicity.