When Belgian photographer Sanne De Wilde came across a strange photo of little people posing in a dwarf-themed park while browsing online, her curiosity was piqued.
After much research, De Wilde found out that the theme park was situated in southern China, near Kunming. Soon after, she embarked on a field trip to the theme park to find out more about the little people that lived and worked there.
Dwarf Empire, also known as Kingdom of the Little People, is a peculiar attraction where little people perform various entertaining acts for tourists.
De Wilde managed to explore the theme park extensively, including the little people’s living quarters, after receiving permission from the park manager.
What she saw and experienced from her visit befuddled her—she often pondered about the theme park’s true intentions in her project, 'The Dwarf Empire'.
De Wilde wrote on her website, “Every story has two sides but in this place, every question and every answer seemed contradictory. My adventure ended up as a modern anti-fairytale, a collection of images of my making, and theirs.”
Take a look at her work below.
[via Beautiful/Decay, images by Sanne De Wilde]