Dimitri Mellos

Photographer
www.dimitrimellos.com
    
Performance of Identity
Stories (14)
Location: New York City
Nationality: Greek
Biography: Dimitri Mellos was born in Athens, Greece, but since 2005 has been living in New York City. He studied philosophy and psychology. As a child, he used to walk around with an old Kodak Instamatic camera (with no film loaded), pretending to be... MORE
Private Story
Performance of Identity
Copyright Dimitri Mellos 2024
Updated Dec 2019
Location Kaili, China
Topics China, Documentary, Miao people, Photography, Photojournalism, Travel
The Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province in southwestern China is home to the largest concentration of the Miao ethnic minority in China, and renowned for its natural beauty and well-preserved villages of traditional wooden houses. In the context of today’s rapidly developing and extremely modernized China, visiting this region almost feels like going through a time travel machine. However, during a recent trip there I discovered that this cultural heritage is proving to be a mixed blessing. Some of the most famous traditional villages seem to be evolving into theme parks for tourists from the wealthy northern and eastern parts of the country. These middle-class, westernized Chinese seem to view the Miao as an exotic species within their own country. Busloads of tourists arrive every day, often just for a couple of hours, just enough time for the local villagers to, essentially, “perform” their ethnic identity for the sake of the tourists. In fact, the government is paying the locals a daily stipend precisely so that they can don their traditional costumes and put themselves on display for the viewing pleasure of the tourist groups. The villagers seem grateful for this tourist boon as it has raised their standard of living in this extremely poor region, but one cannot help but wonder about the long-term corrosive effects the adoption of a performative identity may have on the fabric of this traditional society.

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Performance of Identity by Dimitri Mellos
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