Chinese Landscape: Collective Exhibition of Seven Contemporary Photographers

Duration: 2008-06-15~2008-08-24
Opening: 2008.6.15 15:00 p.m. 
Address: Fei Gallery
Contact: 020-3768 8781
Opening Hours: Mon.-Sun. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (closed on Thursday)
Free Admission

Artists
颜长江 Yan Changjiang
丘 Qiu
杨俊坡 Yang Junpo
罗凯星 Luo Kaixing
路泞 Lu Ning
杨格亮 Yang Geliang
许培武 Xu Peiwu

The collective exhibition by Guangdong photographers made its debut in the 2002 Ping Yao International Photography Festival and appeared in the same exhibition the following year, arousing extensive attention home and abroad. The backbone photographers of the collective exhibition got together again in 2006 to host an international photography festival in Lianzhou, a mountainous city in East Guangdong. Furthermore, they decided to host a retrospective collective exhibition in a broader geography. Now with the support by the Guangzhou-based Fei Gallery, the exhibition has come out smoothly.

Why is the theme of the exhibition defined as "Chinese Landscape"? High mountains, peaceful lakes, great canyons and extensive coasts are all considered as natural scenery. Both natural sceneries and urban environments recorded on the films are viewed as "Chinese landscape" in the photographers' hearts.

Yan Changjiang retains the final minutes of the night zoo in Guangzhou's Panyu that once enjoyed a reputation as the largest night zoo in Asia.

Qiu's photographic style has been drawing increasing attention in recent years. He is good at dissociating images of men, substance and scenery. While all are put together, those segmented elements fit so well with each other to become a whole.

Following the successful photographic series featuring "Daily Lives" and "Cement Plant" in Qingchuang, Lu Ning this time brings out "Greyhounds Chasing Hares" (a traditional competing folk game in Shanxi Province), which reflects the relationship between people and animals, ecology and livelihood.

Luo Kaixing, a professional photographer in Shenzhen, expressed his attachment to his hometown Boyang Lake to which he returns regularly in his free time.

Yang Junpo, who has photographed Shenzhen for seven years, takes urban life as the theme of his works. Pretty office ladies, working girls and blue-collar girls in the photographs are characters in his Ukiyoe of the city.

Yang Geliang lives in an area where a great number of factories were built in its early "capital accumulation" years. But now they have been turned into deserted castles. Meanwhile, both ancient traditional houses and modern buildings combining Chinese and Western styles in Lianzhou are falling into ruins in a time of depression. Photographs of either sites or posters on walls are taken to reflect photographer's recollection of times in the city.

Xu Peiwu, whose works have surpassed the vicissitudes of time since 2005, holds a view that good photos have nothing to do with time and events but are closely related to our sensation. His new works "Roving" demonstrates his concept of "Elegant Times".

The exhibition doesn't offer grand photographic narration and has no intention to compare with the popular jumbo pictures. Instead, our photographers keep to the traditional way of developing photos with silver gelatin print. Most of them prefer photographing in a documentary way rather than creating conceptual images at a quick pace in a competition against time.

It is a pity that three other photographers who had planned to participate in this exhibition failed to present their works due to production delay and delivery problems. Slides of "Collective Exhibition of Ten Chinese photographers' works" have been made especially for 2007 Lianzhou Annual Photography Festival and will be shown during this exhibition to make up for the absence of their works.

Source: lifeofguangzhou.com

Editor: Jessie Hwang