My name is Terry Xie and I work as a professional skateboard photographer. In 2014, I traveled twice to the western part of China, the autonomous region Xinjiang, to complete my photo book Aghine.
The reason I wanted to shoot this project Aghine, is because of the diverse demographic of Xinjiang. This politically sensitive region on China’s western border is home to predominantly Islamic followers. Due to the large number of religious extremist terrorist attacks and social conflicts between opposing minority groups in the recent years, those in the mainland of China have only been exposed to negative Xinjiang related news and often have a skewed and biased perception towards the minority groups living there.
With that said, many people probably don’t know that there is a vibrant scene of young skateboarding teenagers in Xinjiang. In Aghine, I took the portraits of 30 local skaters from different ethnic minority groups who all share the common love of skateboarding culture. Between these skaters, there are no conflicts of race or religion. They stay focused, embracing skateboarding as a snapshot of their youth, and adopt an optimistic attitude in society. In the Ugyhur language there is the slang word, “Aghine”, which translates to “like-minded brother”. In this book, I present you, my Aghines!
TerryXie / Aghine
80 pg. full color photo.
25cmx28cm
Cover: Fine Art paper 280g
Inner pages: Fine Art paper 180g
Sewing binding
Printed in china
Limited Edition of 200
