1882年的马来亚半岛地图。该地图由雪兰莪州公共工程和调查主管D.D. Daly先生调查得出，发表于《皇家地理学会杂志》。新加坡（当时名为星洲）是一个海岛，是英国的殖民地，而居民大多是华人。早在明代前期，中国东南沿海人民特别是福建人民就已经开始移徙此地。 1882 Map of The Malay Peninsular, drawn by Selangor public engineer, supervised by D.D. Daly and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. Singapore (an island, was named Sinchew) was a colony of England that was inhabited by mostly Chinese. Early in the Ming dynasty, more and more people living close to the sea started migrating to Northeast Asia to find a living, especially people close to the south sea.
曾祖父肖像（上色版）。20世纪初，曾祖母在中国逝世，曾祖父则带着青年时期的祖父下南洋，当一名人力车夫以维持生计。为了重新打造一个绚烂的彩色世界，我运用数字后期技术，完成了一张曾祖父肖像着色照。 Great-grandfather Portrait (Colorize). After my great-grandmother passed away in the early 20th Century, my great-grandfather brought my grandfather to Nanyang to start a new life as a rickshaw puller. This colorized version was created using post digital editing skill.
图为祖父撰写的家族簿。封面写着己亥年记，内页记王姓三槐堂品级，对联曰：“乌巷家声大，龙楼世泽长”。传统家谱，是记录血缘相连的家族繁衍的重要资料，对寻找海内外华人寻根问祖，追本溯源，增强民族认同感和凝聚力具有重要意义。 This photo shows my family’s genealogy written by my grandfather in 1959. The front page was to record our surname and ancestral home. The couplet wrote that we inherit our family name along with our family reputation; At our hometown Lou Tou village, the land, power and wealth of our ancestors will be passed down to the descendants. Traditional genealogy provides the descendants to track back their ancestors, finding their origin. It possesses the ability to enhance the sense of identity and coherence of an ethnic group.
图为祖父母收藏于20世纪90年代的精工品牌时钟。它除了告知人们时间，也见证了生命的离合。 The Seiko brand clock was collected by my grandparents in the 1990s. The clock is not only a reminder of time, but also a witness to the transition of life.
图为祖父下南洋时所携带的行李箱。我把收藏于店铺二层的家族遗物搬到摄影棚内，运用静物摄影的方式进行拍摄。 Grandfather’s hand luggage that he carried when he followed his father to Nanyang. I moved it from the second floor of the tire shop to the studio to shoot it in the form of still life photography.
旧账单与陈年账簿。左图为2008年的发票扫描图像，右图为陈年的档案与账簿。马来西亚于2015年4月1日起施行消费税法，店铺采用电脑开单以取代传统的手写模式。 The picture on the left is a scanned 2008 old invoice. The picture on the right is the used account books still remain in the cabinet. From 1st April 2015, the Malaysian government has announced the implementation of the 6% Goods and Services Tax (GST). To adapt to the new changes, our shop swapped to computer billing.
图为王家的祖先牌，上面记录着祖先的名讳、生卒时间。海外华人祖先崇拜在新境遇中发生了文化变迁，呈现出地方性、时代性和传统性并存的形态，这是海外华人延续中华文化的特征。 Chinese ancestral tablet of Wong family, records the names of ancestors and the days they born and died. Worship of ancestors is a tradition of every overseas Chinese family and still remains after they move to Nanyang. This tablet shows that overseas Chinese still follow the tradition though there will be slight differences depending on time and places.
家族肖像系列始于2022年，由于疫情原因，无法拍摄全家族成员，故此系列会持续拍摄直至完整。图中包括王锦荣、刘秀金、王文源、黄裕华、王婧、王皓、王文廣、王锦华、江月英、王绣韵、王文骏、王锦富、洪永恒、王兰英、洪金镛等成员。 The Family Faces series began in 2022, I began to take pictures for my family members in 2022 but I was unable to finish due to the pandemic. The set of pictures will continue until I finish taking all of them. The members included above are Wong Kim Yong, Lau Siew Kee, Wong Boon Yuan, Wong Yu Wah, Saffron Wong Jing, Wong Hao, Wong Boon Quong, Wong Kim Hwa, Kang Guak Eng, Wong Siew Yin, Wong Boon Jun, Wong Kim Hoo, Ang Eng Deen, Wong Lan Eng and Ang Ching Yoong.
Title of Work: The Journey of Lifetime: Wong’s Immigration Story
Statement:
In Chinese Modern history, we have a few well-known migration waves to places such as Northeast, Xikou, Tea-horse ancient road, Nanyang and San Francisco. My great-grandfather, Ong Kok Thin, followed the Nanyang migration wave to Malaya after the mid 20th century. Recollections from my childhood memories and looking through family portraits and photo albums had reminded me of the existence of my great-grandfather. By looking at the blessed quotes on the wall, I comprehend my family’s vision. It motivates me to embark on a journey to trace my family history. I went through a few processes including coloring my great-grandfather’s black and white picture, applying the technique of reconstruction of objects and scenes, taking photos for every family member and comparing the old and new photos. These processes provide me the material I need to recreate the years of journeys that my forefather came through to enhance the concept of self-identity. From that, I am able to connect the dots using family identity, history and memories and use it to rethink the relationship of photography, space and memories.
王文骏《征程：生命之旅》
在中国近代史上，有过闯关东、走西口、蹚古道、下南洋、赴金山的浪潮。在下南洋的移民潮中，那些难以忘记的情感与毅力，也随着人们的迁徙足迹走向世界。我的曾祖父姓王，名为国珍。在二十世纪三十年代，他带着青年时期的祖父，从中国移民到马来半岛。当我回溯家族历史，翻阅档案与扫描底片时常常会看见曾祖父的痕迹。偶然望向的每一幅题字，宛如标示，冥冥之中引领着我，踏上这段广阔且没有边际的时光旅途。我通过给黑白照片着色、构建场景与物件、拍摄家族肖像、新旧照片的对比叙事等手法，将近百年来祖辈的旅程重新梳理，加强对自我身份的认识。就此，我也得以重新思考家族身份与历史，以及摄影、空间与记忆之间的关系。
Biography:
Wong Boon Jun, born in 1998, is a Malaysia-based photographer. He has a Bachelor's Degree of Arts in Cinematography & Production at the Communication University of China in Beijing. He combines historical and contemporary material with the goal of producing a visual dialogue that transcends time and speaks into the future. His work frequently combines digital composites with analogue and alternative procedures, as well as elements of mixed media. His primary interests are origin and identity, as well as tracing memory, emotions, time, and culture change, which shift our view of history.
王文骏，1998年出生于马来西亚，图片摄影师。本科毕业于中国传媒大学影视摄影与制作（图片摄影方向）。他一直在研究摄影、空间和记忆之间的联系，以达到在摄影中讲故事的效果。他渐渐从曾经熟悉的家乡中抽离出来，以自身家族为创作对象，利用摄影媒介探寻家族成员与社会之间的关系，研究作为从中国移民至马来西亚的生活与历史文化。他的最终目标是通过摄影与世界各地的人们分享他所看到和感受到的世界。
Website: www.wongboonjun.com
