Photo Journal Monday: Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
Image and text by Xiaoxiao Xu
Photo Edited by Lucia Luzzani and Yanting Chen
Aeronautics In The Backyard is a research project initiated by Xiaoxiao Xu. It follows a group of Chinese farmer-aeronauts, who've spent most of their lives in the pursuit of a seemingly impossible dream – the dream to fly. They have very little recourses and hardly any knowledge on the technology behind building aircrafts. But they do carry endless creativity and boundless persistency, often allowing them to achieve their wildest fantasies.
All over China, individual farmers started building their own designs of airplanes, most of the time working out of their own backyards. Not every design is equally successful. Some of these amateur planes are very dangerous and hardly functioning, some planes aren't even meant to work at all, yet some designs work so well that they get recognized by the professional market. Either way, this is not the main goal for these aeronauts. They are not in it for the money, they simply build in search of new alternatives; cheaper, lighter, stranger and better ways to fly.
© Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
Some of these aeronauts have worked for decades but never achieved to get airborne. Although that might sound like a waste of time, they see it differently. For them, the game is not about how far or high they can fly, it's about pushing their boundaries in order to achieve the impossible. They call it real-life science-fiction.
Aeronautics In the Backyard shines a light on what it's like to live in the service of aeronautics, what it's like to wake up one day and decide to leave the ground and sail the air, no matter how crazy the neighbors think you are.
© Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
Xiaoxiao Xu travelled across China to encounter six different farmer-aeronauts, all working in completely different ways. She lived with them, interviewed and photographed them and collected boxes full of original documentation and sketches. Step by step, she learnt why these farmers dream these dreams, why they actually decide to give building aircrafts a try, regardless of the lack of recourses, multiple failures and life-threatening accidents.
© Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
© Xiaoxiao Xu
