californians

加州californians

"
life essentials:
1.free tee from a local tech company
2.cords and awards
3.sat and prep books of all your dreams
4.pearl milk tea for mental support
5.flip flops
"

Californians is a series of photographs and performance piece documenting the people of northern California. After the presidential election of 2016, Ruilin returned back to the bay area in 2017 contesting her own Californian identity as the life growing up in the silicon valley wasn't the ultimate reality she has believed. She sets out on a journey with Maggie to four northern counties with majority of the population voting for Trump during the election. These images captured the complex identities of the locals and the current political landscape as Ruilin comes together with her neighbors to expand the definition of a Californian.
Every set of images started with a conversation of “what makes you a Californian?”

We met on the side of the high way. I told Maggie we have to stop. She said "Great. Now we are gonna talk to people with weapons." I said,
"come on! when are we ever going to meet a hunter with bows and arrows again in our lives?"

The hunter was friendly. He told us that he just saw a deer earlier in the morning and the deer out smarted him. But, he is back now to take it down. He thinks it is his destiny. He also thinks he is a part of the ecosystem in a way that it is his duty to hunt the coyotes so that they don't start howling around in the residential neighborhoods. He is taking action in his local office to allow them to hunt coyotes without a number restriction.

We met in his yard sale.

The business man was a smart guy. He told us that he made 20k last week just by selling random things he has collected. We told him the project we were working on. He agreed to participate but made sure to remind us that the sale was ending and that he is a busy guy. His wife asked us where we were from. We said the bay area. The energy changed a little. Almost like she felt we were looking down on them. Then, she quickly said we were from Palo Alto. But life was too boring then we moved out her. Maggie and I looked at each other and laughed nervously to confirm her statement. He later gave me a flyer of their business which now I have lost sadly.

We met in a RV park.

The Ex marine told us that he was once stationed in Korea. We thanked him for his service.

We met in her thrift store.

The store owner told us that she loves California because it is close to the mountains, the snow and the ocean. We asked her what she thought about the election. She said she voted for Trump in the election. Her family and her try not to talk about politics at the dinner table because it brought tension. She added that she is anti immigration. Maggie and I didn't say anything and we continued to listen. She said the refugees are getting couple hundreds to live here and she barely get any to cover her medical bills. And, she believed that Trump can change that. We asked her as a woman of what she thought about his scandals and those things he said. She said she didn't vote for him because she agrees with his morals. And, she needed change.

We met on this bridge.

They were drawing nice quotes on the floor using chalked. I introduced ourselves and told them we are from the bay area and wanted to see more of NorCal. One told us she goes to Stanford and the other said she goes to Cal Poly. To our delight, finally people that could understand our fears. Maggie and I told them that our exploration has been rush. We were scared of getting out of our cars but we had to in order to do this project. That we just went to visit a local school hoping to talk to some young people and for the first time we felt like we really didn't belong. They stared at us like we didn't belong. The girls told us to not worry. They said "maybe they are just staring because you guys look cool!" We laughed because that thought didn't even occur to us.They continued to add that the area isn't the most suitable for liberal young folks. And that they have a hard time growing up and talk about liberal ideals when their family are much more conservative. Now, that they are in college they have been able to meet others that thought differently than their county.

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