Living History: Bound Feet Women of China by Jo Farrell

by Jo Farrell 

This book documents some of the last remaining women with bound feet in China. Through oral interviews and photographs 50 women were interviewed about their foot binding and their lives during the Cultural Revolution and the great famine in China. The photographs are all fine art pieces, captured on black and white film and printed as silver gelatin prints. The majority are between the ages of 80 and 100 years old and are from Shandong and Yunnan Provinces. These women come from peasant backgrounds and have lived incredible lives working in the fields despite their bound feet. This book looks beyond their feet and captures a piece of history for generations to come. It is an anthropological study of women with bound feet.

Jo Farrell is a documentary photographer and cultural anthropologist capturing traditions and cultures before they are completely eradicated. Her work focuses on to what lengths women will go to be accepted in their own society—from Chinese footbinding to the Kayan women with brass coils round their necks. BOUND has been Farrell’s ongoing project for the last 16 years and during this time Farrell has met and photographed more than 50 women with bound feet in China.