Xing Guo

Xing Guo is a graphic designer whose work focuses on the impact of social and economic policies on individuals and communities, through their own stories. She graduated from Central South University in China, before studying Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art.

Left-behind Children

The phenomenon of left-behind children in China is due to an imbalance of regional economic development. Their parents are forced to separate from them and go to work in economically developed areas. This causes a series of psychological and developmental problems for left-behind children.

My work explores this phenomenon, using the formats of a book and a blanket-banner. The book records individual children’s stories as short fragments of text, with the aim that the reader engages and finds resonance in them – whilst the blanket-banner visually represents the children’s lives. While producing the book, I undertook different experiments with text as a material by cutting, scanning and sewing into the pages. On the one hand, this enhances the appeal of the story, and on the other hand, it increases the interest of readers in the act of reading.

Throughout this project, I would like to call on people to pay more attention to ‘left-behind children’ and understand their current situation. I want to draw attention to the problem but also speak to the parents of left-behind children, so that they come to realise that what their children need is their company, not just the fulfilment of their material needs. Through the circulation of my work, the aim is that the phenomenon of left-behind children can be acknowledged and addressed.

Video of the book