Last Silver Spoon is a photo - essay documenting the effects of the Communist — first Russian, then Chinese — occupation of Kazakhstan through my relationship with my mother. It centres around a small silver spoon that my grandmother threw into the ashes of her stove in 1950.

In 1935, my grandfather was among the thousands of people who rebelled against the Chinese occupation of Xinjiang. He was arrested and executed by the Chinese Communist Army in 1950 at the age of 37.

A few days after my grandfather's death, a group of men came to our house. They announced that — on that very day — the government would seize the family's possessions, including land, animals, and personal belongings.

When my grandmother heard this announcement, she threw a small silver spoon into the ashes of her stove, the only inheritance she had left from her family.

Finally, she stood with five children, ages one to sixteen, in an empty house with nothing to eat or wear. However, despite the threat that anyone who provided help would face the same punishment, hidden help came from everywhere. A few weeks later, though, the situation worsened. Finally, she had to give the four younger children to relatives and remained solely with her sixteen-year-old son. They survived by running to the fields late at night to harvest some wheat and eat with hot water.


Just before the Cultural Revolution began, my grandmother and her eldest son were found guilty of treason because they were educated and had relatives and family in Kazakhstan. Therefore, they were forced to walk the streets for several months wearing a large paper hat, about 70-80 cm high.

After which, they were deported to a labour camp for ten years.

I have chosen to approach this issue — and my personal relationship with my grandmother — through the form of a photo-essay as it is an intergenerational story involving a complex socio-political backdrop that cannot be told, with fidelity, in a single image. Thus, it requires a gradual narrative, one which has the, and takes its, the time to develop and evolve.


Through Last Silver Spoon, I hope to address the fact that we cannot change the world by hiding our stories; we cannot make someone a better person by blaming, hurting, or murdering them, damage and trauma that can last for and over generations. Unfortunately, sometimes hatred grows, but that is not what we need; we need more compassion and love and make the world a better place.