A striking wedding portrait lies at the heart of Taiwanese photographer Liu Hsing-Yu’s long-running My Parents series. Made with his mother and father in 2009, it swaps traditional bridal clothes and poses to question gender expectations, family bonds and what it means to support one another. The work is now reaching new audiences through exhibitions and a forthcoming book.

One wedding portrait, with the roles reversed

A wedding dress, an old suit and a scatter of bright plastic roses make for an unusual family portrait. In Liu Hsing-Yu’s photograph, his mother wears his father’s suit, while his father is dressed in a secondhand wedding gown. Their poses gently overturn the familiar script: she looks more assertive, while he appears at rest. [2], [4]

The image began in 2009, when Liu was studying art and had recently told his parents he was gay. They struggled to understand both parts of his life, and initially believed his art studies had somehow caused his coming out. Finding his father’s wedding suit gave Liu a way to start a conversation without reducing it to words. [3], [4]

Plastic roses carry more than decoration

The setting matters as much as the outfits. Liu photographed his parents on family farmland near Kaohsiung, where his grandfather had grown taro, rice and mangoes. A truck and the fields bring work and physical labour into the frame, while the wedding clothes point to marriage and the roles traditionally assigned to men and women. [4], [5]

The family gathered the artificial roses from wedding banquets they’d attended. For Liu, their bright, slightly unreal beauty spoke to feeling out of place: as a gay man, he felt he couldn’t meet expectations around marriage, children and carrying on the family line. The flowers look cheerful, but the meaning underneath is more complicated. [3], [4]

A family collaboration that took years to grow

The portrait became an early work in My Parents, a series Liu has continued for 17 years and counting. Each photograph could involve months of conversation and disagreement, and taking part didn’t mean his parents agreed with every idea behind the work. Still, making images together created room for understanding to develop. [4], [5]

His father’s reason for agreeing became clearer in 2014, when he spoke at an artist talk with Liu. Liu recalled that his father considered wearing the wedding dress a small price to pay to support his son. It’s a tender detail, and a reminder that care between family members doesn’t always arrive as a grand declaration. [3], [4]

Taiwan’s changing attitudes meet generational differences

Taiwan legalised same-sex marriage in 2019, a major change since Liu began the series. He has said that the social climate has become more accepting, although generational differences remain. The photographs sit between those shifts: intimate family records, but also images that invite viewers to question what they’ve learnt to see as normal. [3], [8]

Liu’s work has been shown in different international settings, including Kyoto and the Bangkok Art Biennale. His family life has also changed alongside the series: he is now married, and he and his parents live together. The project has moved beyond a single portrait into an ongoing record of people growing older and finding new ways to live alongside one another. [2], [6], [7]

What the series asks us to reconsider

The latest presentation at Bristol Photo Festival brings My Parents to a UK audience, with Liu also publishing a book of the photographs. For viewers, the useful question isn’t simply who wears which outfit. It’s who gets to define family roles, and whether old assumptions still make sense when real life has moved on. [2], [3]

That question becomes especially tangible as parents age. Liu has spoken about care, wellbeing and whether older LGBTQ people can live freely with those they love. His photographs don’t offer a neat answer, but they make a compelling case for starting the conversation while there’s still time to listen. [3], [5]

A familiar family portrait can look very different once we pause to question its rules.

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