This exhibition of some 75 compelling color photographs documented an extraordinary project in rural Yunnan, China. They were selected from some 25,000 photographs taken between June 1992 and June 1993 by sixty-nine Chinese women taking part in a Ford-Foundation-sponsored project called “PhotoVoice.”

The photographers – village women and Women’s Federation cadres, aged 18 to 57 years – had no previous experience with photography. Yet, they learned to use Instamatic cameras to record the familiar people, scenes, and events around them.

The images the Yunnan women created show, from their different perspectives, the daily life, work, health, education, children, and customs of local ethnic groups. Together, the photographs form a direct and powerful self-portrait of the lives of Yunnan village women. An interactive website allowed visitors to leave their comments on the project.