Close-up of Zhao Hua Hong’s feet
British photographer Jo Farrell’s on-going project ‘Living History’ is an eye-opening look at the last women foot binders of China.
Her shocking photographs document the painful, centuries-old tradition of foot binding, which was believed to have originated in 10th or 11th century China. It was seen as a symbol of status and beauty for young women, who bound their feet in the hopes of marrying a rich man.
Due to their stunted growth, women with bound feet could only take tiny steps and walked predominantly on their heels, resulting in a swaying “lotus gait.” This, coupled with the fact that their feet were concealed, held an intensely erotic appeal for men.
Though the Chinese government outlawed foot binding in 1912, the custom remained carried out behind closed doors.
For nearly a decade, Farrell has been visiting and photographing the last women survivors, who are all in their eighties and nineties, and bear horrific scars of this inhumane practice.
They include 88-year-old Zhang Yun Ying, who had her toes broken and feet bound when she was a child, until she couldn’t walk properly anymore.
Farrell embarked on a Kickstarter project after three of the women she was documenting passed away in the past year, and felt it was “imperative to focus on recording their lives before it is too late.”
It has since been successfully funded, and if you wish to donate to it, Farrell is accepting contributions on her website.
Apart from documenting the women, Farrell wants to make a statement on modern-day beauty procedures like Botox, rib removal and breast augmentation that women subject themselves to.
View some of her photographs below and find out more about her project here.
Su Xi Rong
Zhang Yun Ying
Close up of Su Xi Rong’s feet
Close-up of Cao Mei Xing’s feet
Liu Shiu Ying and her husband
[via Beautiful Decay and The Huffington Post, images by Jo Farrell]