interview with my grandmother
Click here to read the translated transcript
This project was largely inspired by the relationship between me and my paternal grandmother- or as I call her "Nai Nai" (奶奶). Growing up, and still now, I have only seen her in the role of my caring, gentle grandmother and it is hard for me to picture her as being anyone outside of that context. This sense of incompleteness regarding her narrative and history left me wondering what there was to learn. Also the fact that our relationship was mostly non- verbal and one- sided, I felt that I needed to know more about her family, her past, her story. This is contrasted with my grandfather (her husband), who is able to speak English and convey a lot of his past to us.
This interview was conducted in a very "home"/ intimate setting which is why you are able to hear my little brother walk around and talk in the background and my father occasionally cough. My goal for the interview was to speak to her in Mandarin, but I found myself only being able to say very little because I did not know the words for many things. My grandfather was there to help translate and, you are able to hear it in the video as well, I would keep referring to him to help translate. I could also tell that my grandmother was trying to simplify many parts and put it in a way that I could easily understand. This makes me wonder if there is a larger part of the different stories that I don't know about because she was not able to express it in a way that I would understand so she didn't include it.
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Now that I am in college, my relationship with my grandmother is mostly through Facetime and messaging apps. This makes it more difficult to communicate at times as our contact is often very short and just filled with smiles and waves. This makes me feel that moving to LA has added this additional strain on our level of communication and is one strong external motivator for me to learn more Mandarin. I really enjoyed the experience of talking to her in this formal, yet informal, manner and I felt that I gained a lot when it came to understanding my background and seeing her as more than just my grandmother.
2003
2001
1953
2019
My grandmother and I at 19 years old
Images courtesy of YC Chan
At this point in time of our lives, we are under totally different circumstances and each faced with challenges that are vastly different. It is hard to imagine what it was like to grow up at the end up World War II and to raise a family during the Cultural Revolution in a country that was building itself up. Hearing her speak her story has grounded me and has forced me to have an even greater appreciation for the privilege and opportunities I have received in my life.