Shina Peng

(Taiwan)

Shina Peng is an environmental portrait photographer based in Taipei, New York City and Tokyo. Currently she resides in Brooklyn. Her international upbringing as a Taiwanese American born and raised in Japan heavily impacts the themes she explores in her artwork. Through her work she questions society’s definition of identity and attempts to understand her own background. She focuses on moments of the “in-between”, the intersectionality, and the dichotomies that people exist in. Shina’s work focuses on the beauty in the mundane. Her nostalgic narratives are unexperienced memories that romanticize the repetitions of daily life.

Connect

Furusato

“Furusato (Home)” is a promise I made to my grandfather before he passed away in 2018.
My grandfather was born in 1922 in Linxiang, Hunan. He left Linxiang in 1941 and would return for the first time 40 years later in 1988. He left without knowing that he would run away to Taiwan and lose contact with his mother as he fought in the war.

When I was younger my parents would tell me I was from Taiwan. I was reminded of my Chinese heritage only when my grandfather returned to Hunan every Lunar New Year to pay respect to his parents and give back to his relatives. The relationship between Japan, China, and Taiwan was a source of the uncertainty I felt with my own identity. When my grandfather passed away, I felt it was time I acknowledged my roots in China. This project is my attempt at understanding where we come from. It will photograph my father and my journey back to my grandfather’s hometown in Linxiang, Hunan.