CAPTURING HUMANITY AT ITS FINEST

The final days of terminally ill wife and mother are documented with tender and warm images

A36-year-old mother of three in Northeast China’s Liaoning province was diagnosed with late-stage cancer in 2019. After successfully receiving chemo and radiotherapy, her cancer returned in 2020, and before she underwent surgery, she invited photographer Wang Naigong to take family photos.

As her condition deteriorated, Wang captured the precious moments Jiu’er (named after her birth month, September, the ninth hence jiu) spent with her family. The resulting series of photos, titled I Am Still With You, won the photographer the Long-Term Projects, Asia category, at the 67th World Press Photo Contest, which announced the winners out of more than 61,000 entries earlier this month. The award is given in recognition for the best photojournalism and documentary photography from the past year, and the prizewinning stories will be showcased at the World Press Photo Exhibition in Amsterdam next month.

“The project did not aim to address the complicated issues of the disease, or its relationship to society, but rather to document the emotional and spiritual journey of a young woman as she faced death,” according to the introduction to the series on the contest’s website.

As a private visual record exploring the concept of family photos, Wang used a large-format camera, which offers exceptional detail in low light, as well as better control of perspective and depth of field, to capture emotions and relationships within the family. Jiu’er then added her own interpretation of each shot.

“In our daily lives, it is taboo to talk about death,” Wang says.

By recording the young mother’s inner feelings, emotions, situation and attitude, Wang attempts to alleviate people’s anxieties about death and teach them to accept it with a sense of peace.

“Jiu’er told me that she was not afraid of death, but regretted that she would not be able to accompany her children as they grew up. Her final wish was to create a family album in both pictures and words that illustrated her attitude toward life, as a gift for her children. I Am Still With You is a book about love and courage,” the photographer says.

Although Jiu’er passed away in 2022, her presence lives on in these family memories, which consist of more than 700 photos taken over three years.

Wang is a member of the China Photographers Association and director of the Liaoning Photographers Association, as well as a visiting professor at Bohai University in Jinzhou, Liaoning.

Following surgery and radiotherapy for cancer treatment, Jiu’er, a mother of three from Northeast China’s Liaoning province, recovers and the family feels optimistic about the future. She says: “Life is not long. Do what you want to do, and choose what you love.”

Her husband plays the guitar, as he does every day after dinner. This has been a family habit for more than a decade, and it is the time of day Jiu’er enjoys the most.

Jiu’er looks into a mirror as her cancer returns. “After everything that has happened,” she says, “I am probably too tired and can’t find happiness. Looking in the mirror, I realize that I have wrinkles.”

Her husband takes the children to the cemetery to pay their respects a month after her death from cancer. They remember what Jiu’er always said: “We are still with each other.”

Jiu’er is admitted to a hospice for transfusions every 10 days or so. She says that if there is an afterlife, she looks forward to meeting the people she was not able to let go of in this life.

Her clothes hanging poignantly in front of the window become a permanent and crucial part of the family memory. She said: “My life is so average, yet it is a limited edition.”

Enjoying quality time, Jiu’er plays with cosmetics and relaxes with her three daughters. She says: “Spend time on beautiful things, and then meet a better self . ... Stop laughing!”

Shooting a video of her three daughters for social media, one of many she posted. Jiu’er says: “Good little things are still happening. How I wish I could continue to photograph the happiness in life.”

Jinzi, her youngest daughter. Under the photo, Jiu’er writes: “Jinzi, even if you put on magnifying glasses, your eyes are still not as big as your mom’s.”