用影像打破偏见，新疆摄影师讲述“不为人知”的真实新疆故事 | I am from Xinjiang

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Xinjiang, a vast region on China’s northwestern border is home to more than 20 million people. While Han Chinese make up more than 90 percent of China’s population, nearly 60 percent of the people in Xinjiang are ethnic minorities. Among them is Uighur film director Kurbanjan Samat. 

新疆位于中国的西北边陲。这片广袤的土地上居住着两千多万人。然而和很多中国其他地区不同的是，这里的居民将近六成是少数民族同胞。摄影师、纪录片导演库尔班江就是其中的一员。

A photo of Kurbanjan Samat /Courtesy: Kurnbanjan Samat

Growing up in Hotan, a city in the southern part of Xinjiang, Kurbanjan fell in love with photography at the age of 17. In 2014, he published a photo project titled “I’m from Xinjiang”, which includes 100 portraits of people who moved away from their home region in Xinjiang and settled in places around the world. Kurbanjan explains that what motivated him to start was his desire to change people’s misconceptions about his hometown. 

库尔班江在新疆南部的和田长大，在17岁时钟情摄影并以此为业。在2014年，他发布了名为《我从新疆来》的个人图片摄影集。这其中100张人物肖像照的主角是从新疆走出去到全国、乃至世界各地生活并实现自己理想的人。对于库尔班江来说，他的创作动机是想打破人们对他家乡的偏见。

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Portraits from "I‘m from Xinjiang" /Courtesy: Kurbanjan Samat

《我从新疆来》图片集 图片来自：库尔班江.赛买提

“I want to communicate to people through my work,” he says, “we’ve been misunderstood for so long, so my target audience is the 1.4 billion people all over China.” 

“做这个其实更多的是个人表达。个人表达是因为被别人误解的太深了，需要有一种方式去跟别人沟通。其实我现在沟通的是我们十四亿人。”

Due to its location, Xinjiang remains largely unknown to the densely populated areas in the east where most residents are Han Chinese. Following terrorist attacks carried out by religious extremists in recent years, Kurbanjan like many other ethnic minorities, constantly face discrimination: “People have asked me if I live in a hut or if I ride a horse to school,” he says.

由于地处祖国边陲，新疆对于很多生活在中、东部地区的人来说是有些陌生的。而近年来由极端分子发动的暴恐事件更加深了一些人对这片土地的误解。和很多来自新疆的少数民族同胞一样，库尔班江经常需要面对一些令人哭笑不得的问题：“有人问，你们新疆是不是骑着马上学？是不是住的毡房？是不是天天都带着刀？”

少数民族儿童 图片来自：库尔班江.赛买提

In an attempt to dispel stereotypes, Kurbanjan intentionally omitted the religious backgrounds and ethnicities of his subjects. Instead, he focused on telling the personal stories of the people he filmed, and the project became a great success.

为了打破这些刻板印象，库尔班江特意在片中隐去采访对象的民族身份和宗教信仰，并将讲述的重点放在他们的经历与生活上。他的作品先后被多家海内外媒体转载并引起了不小的反响。

“Among the tens of thousands of reviews, I saw a change in people’s attitudes,” says Kurbanjan, “before [this was published] people had little idea of who we are and why we come to live and work in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Now people understand that we do more than sell barbeques on the street.”

“发了之后的三万多条评论里其实我是已经看到了一种变化，”库尔班江说，“之前大家都不知道这些从新疆出来的一群人是在北京、上海、深圳做什么。书出来之后改变了人们对内地生活、工作的新疆人的看法。大家知道了‘他们不光是卖烤肉的’。”

Moving forward, Kurbanjan plans to further explore human interest stories in his home region. In May, he released his latest work “I’m going to Xinjiang” – a documentary series that tells the stories of those who chose to start a new life and pursue their dreams in Xinjiang. While striving for more influence and recognition, Kurbanjan says all his works serve one common theme:

库尔班江接下来的计划是以新疆为题材完成三本摄影作品集和三部纪录片。今年五月，他的最新作品《我到新疆去》正式上映。这一次，故事的主人公们是从世界各地来到新疆追求梦想的人。对于库尔班江来说，无论内容是什么，他的作品始终都有一个不变的内核：

库尔班江的团队在新疆拍摄

“By the end of the day, I just want to convey a message to the audience that where we come from, what we believe in, the color of our skin, and all our differences shouldn’t be factors that stop us from getting to know each other.”

“我最终想表达的是，无论你是什么民族，从什么地方来，什么肤色，什么宗教背景… 所有一切不同并不应该成为我们之间沟通的障碍。”

Interview: Zhang Dayu

Film editor: Jiang Yuting, Zhang Dayu

Story written by: Zhang Dayu

English editor: Josh McNally

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