Mrs Li and her book

This is Mrs Li, she has been working with her husband as recyclers in Beijing for over 3 years now. They collect cardboards, papers, books, plastic bottles and any pieces of furniture people want to get rid of. 

As I was walking in my neighborhood, I saw her sitting in the back of her truck, she seemed so serene looking at her book gracefully placed between her laps. From afar, wearing her oversized jacket, her purple hair band, and her crocks, she could have been a college girl studying for her finals. But she wasn't.  As I got closer, she started to smile at me.

I was intrigued by what she was reading so I asked her, and she replied: 'This is an art book', slowly flipping the page one by one so I could see the images of the paintings better.

She said she recycled those books from the museum which was located in the neighborhood, 'You would not believe how many books they are getting rid of each week' she said. 

She added: 'At least now I have beautiful images to look at.' She kept smiling.

As I was walking away, I turned back a last time and looked at her; what she wasn't aware of was that, her sitting there, smiling and perfectly lit by the sun, she was a living piece of art reading art, each element seemed to have been staged but yet everything naturally colliding together. The reading lamp in the back, the plastic bottles clumsily placed, the stack of books on her side. It wasn't staged, it was part of her everyday life portrayed here; her looking at some art as a momentary escape from her chores. 

That's what art is to me, an escape, a point de fuite, something to look forward to.

Thank you Mrs Li.