Humans of Yuanlin First Market

Digital Photo Book, Exhibited January 2021 online at UCLA Undergraduate Show

Returning to Taiwan amid the COVID-19 pandemic, I collected stories from 14 vendors at my hometown’s first traditional market, many of whom have been familiar faces since my childhood shopping trips with my mother. They reflect on the golden days of traditional markets and their adaptation to modern competition. Some are ready to pass on their stalls, while others feel pessimistic about the future. The project highlights the vendors’ decades of dedication to feeding my hometown and sustaining market culture, drawing a parallel to the metamorphosis of insects and the process’s role in species survival, emphasizing the collective effort needed to conserve traditional markets.