Brussels show features Chinese contemporary photography

The China Cultural Center in the Belgian capital is showcasing until Sept 10 some of China’s finest contemporary photography. The exhibition, titled China: Grain to Pixel, 1980 to Today, displays 40 works from 25 photographers and marks China’s radical social and cultural changes over the last 35 years.

Young, aspirational photographers including Chen Man, 28 and Chilli, 29, who studied together, demonstrate commercial even kitsch images, particularly Chen’s exhibition’s poster MissWan Studies Hard. This depicts a miniskirted woman, the granddaughter ofWan Li, an economic leader under Deng Xiaoping, cycling with her Dior bag on a bicycle piled high with books.

Organized by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV and the China Cultural Center, the exhibition is curated by the Shanghai Center of Photography, founded by Pulitzer Prizewinning LiuHeung Shing and his partner Karen Smith.

Hong Kong-born Liu, a former foreign correspondent and Associated Press photojournalist, told Xinhua: “This show emphasizes the major changes in Chinese life and photography from 1980 to now.”

He added: “Photography is huge in China, especially now with the iPhone. Instead of traditional documentation, young people are using film and digital techniques in a much broader way than before.”

Liu, whose naturalistic work displayed includes a scene involving the Sesame Street children’s television character Big Bird, singles out Han Lei’s buxom Girl in Hair Salon as a standout piece, saying: “It is very different from the typical ideal of thin means beautiful.”

Another exhibition highlight is Song Chao’s striking, evocative photo of coal miners.

Liu says: “A former miner, Song is close to the people so they let him photograph. They did not want to pose for me, saying ‘We’re dirty.’”

Many of the photos tell stories reflecting Chinese society.

“The problem of education is shown in MissWan and Follow Me ( an arresting picture where students slump over their books contrast with the upbeat ‘Study Well, Progress Every Day’ slogan on the walls). Even photographer Wang Quingsong is there with a hospital drip,” Liu notes.

China’s one-child policy initiated in the 1970s to reduce population growth — which was relaxed this year — is evident in Li Nan’s Midwives, while Mu Ge’s Going Home: Terminal Passengers, depicting young workers waiting for boats to take them to the Chengdu software factories, evokes China’s economic growth.

Other photographers featured include Zhang Wei who has remade Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings using the latest techniques, while Lu Yao’s High Pavilion in CoolSummer looks like a typical Hokusai print — until you notice that Lu has superimposed photographed items over the ink drawings using digital technology.

The exhibition also remembers Chinese traditions, including nostalgic landscapes and village scenes. Liu explains he took a photo of a couple sitting in Shanghai People’s Park, a black-andwhite still reminiscent of Robert Capa or Henri CartierBresson, when (in 1978) “people queued to sit on park benches to get some privacy”.

The exhibition can be seen at the Chinese Cultural Center in Brussels until Sept 10, Monday to Friday.

The center’s next exhibition, Water + Ink: Tradition in Contemporary Art, runs from Sept 1 to 24.

PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Contemporary photos of aspirational Chinese artists are on show at the China Cultural Center in Brussels.

AFP A Chanel wedding ensemble at the ManusxMachina:Fashion inanAgeofTechnology exhibition.