I made this picture in Nanjing, a Chinese city with a long and sad history. This woman, burdened with a child, was far away from me, and not only in terms of distance. She seems to be standing out there in a world of her own. A small and simple world, full of responsibilities and burdens. Her world offers her few choices. She looks at me, standing in my world, with curiosity and incomprehension. For her, life is just what it is. She does not think about a better life, because she does not know how.