People fishing by the river, Shanxi
2012 - Photography (Photography)
100 x 75 cm
Zhang Kechun
Zhang Kechun’s photographic series The Yellow River documents the effects of modernization along the eponymous Yellow River, the second longest in Asia. The Yellow River is considered the cradle of Chinese civilization but also poses a great threat, as the river is capable of breaking its banks at any time. Inspired by the novel River of the North by Zhang Chengzhi, the artist travelled on a fold-up bicycle through eastern China’s Shandong province, where the river discharges vast amounts of water into the sea, before slowly tracing it westward over several month-long trips heading to the river’s source near the Bayan Har Mountain in Qinghai. Zhang’s photographic series demonstrates the various ways in which the areas surrounding the river have been devastated by flooding and poetically reveal the impacts on the local population. People fishing by the river, Shanxi documents a scene where the river ebbs; two people in waterproof suits fish inside the small pond at the base of an obsolete water tower. The ruin of the water tower (like the Buddha’s head in the coalfield) immerses the viewer in a modern industrial and vanishing natural landscape. Pollution accounts for the foggy ambiance of the hazy landscape. The delicate intensity of Zhang’s photographs reside in the tranquility of the land and river strewn with abandoned man-made objects, in contrast to the local people appearing as miniscule figures in the landscape. The bleak and desolate vastness that is characteristic of this photo series recalls the landscape painting aesthetics of the Song and Yuan dynasties. With an eerily quiet ambience, Zhang’s images demonstrate how human activities have altered—sometimes irreversibly—the fragile ecosystems surrounding the Yellow River. Zhang does not attempt to reveal the symbolic meanings of the Yellow River and its cultural significance; he unfolds small moments of authentic intervention between local residents and the landscape. Whilst the project was not initially intended to confront environmental issues, Zhang found that ecological matters became unavoidable and the series hums with melancholy for the lost landscape.
Photographer Zhang Kechun documents striking scenery that meditates on the significance of landscape in modern Chinese national identity. Emphasizing the interactions between people and nature, and using bodies of water in China as a geographical point of departure, Zhang’s work illustrates the social, cultural, economic, and emotional impacts of modernization in China. His photographic series of the Northwestern region of China captures the poetic, subtle, and meditative essence of historical and modern aspects of the environment in visual representations inspired by landscape paintings from Song (960-1279) and Yuan dynasties (1279-1368). Manifesting the splendor and significance of the natural landscape, Zhang’s photography ruminates on modern landscapes as a visual archive embedded in the process of rapid modernization and ever-changing conditions of China.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Podcast 93: Girls & Boys by Pangdemonium | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints Pangdemonium July 18, 2021 In the episode of the ArtsEquator theatre podcast, Nabilah Said, Matthew Lyon and Naeem Kapadia discuss Girls & Boys by Pangdemonium, which ran from 25 Feb to 14 Mar 2021...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Rethinking contemporaries: Asian Producers' Platform Speaker Series | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints November 28, 2021 By Wennie Yang (690 words, 2-minute read) There is a quiet and perhaps stubborn optimism that underlies the work of a producer...
© » LARRY'S LIST
Cheng Xindong's contemporary art collection on display in Beijing - CGTN ABOUT US Home China World World Asia-Pacific Americas Europe Middle-East and Africa Politics Business Opinions Tech & Sci Culture Sports Travel Nature Picture Video Live TV Specials Home China World World Asia-Pacific Americas Middle-East and Africa Europe Politics Business Opinions Tech & Sci Culture Sports Travel Nature Picture Video Live TV Specials Home China World Asia-Pacific Americas Europe Middle-East and Africa Politics Business Opinions Tech & Sci Culture Sports Travel Nature Picture Video Live TV Specials Home China World Asia-Pacific Americas Middle-East and Africa Europe Politics Business Opinions Tech & Sci Culture Sports Travel Nature Picture Video Live TV Specials Download Art 19:59, 21-Dec-2020 A snapshot of globalization: Cheng Xindong's contemporary art collection on display in Beijing By Ding Siyue Share Copied 02:32 Tsinghua University Art Museum is hosting an exhibition for the renowned Chinese art collector Cheng Xindong...
© » KADIST
Suzanne Treister
2014HFT The Gardener/Diagrams exemplifies Suzanne Treister’s interest in esoterica , cybernetic awareness and hallucinatory aesthetics as an emanation and contrast to the real world through the exploring circulations of power...
© » THEARTNEWSPER
‘Gangbusters’ domestic economy sees prices rise at India Art Fair Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search India analysis ‘Gangbusters’ domestic economy sees prices rise at India Art Fair The region’s previous art market boom and bust has some at the New Delhi event questioning whether this new wave can be sustained Kabir Jhala 2 February 2024 Share A visitor at Chemould Prescott Road's stand at India Art Fair 2024 Courtesy of India Art Fair Quiet confidence has turned into bullishness at the 15th edition of India Art Fair (IAF) in New Delhi (until 4 February), South Asia’s largest commercial art event...
© » THEARTNEWSPER
Instagram-famous Australian gallerist charged with nine counts of theft Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Art market news Instagram-famous Australian gallerist charged with nine counts of theft Tove Langridge faces up to five years in prison if convicted in the criminal case Tim Stone 9 February 2024 Share Dealer Tove Langridge (left) with artist Kimberly Rowe in front of her work Lovewins Courtesy Kimberly Rowe On 20 December 2023, Queensland Police charged Tove Langridge, the owner of TW Fine Art gallery in Brisbane, Australia, with nine theft offences and seized 20 works of art from storage units he had leased...
© » KADIST
A Remote Viewing workshop with artists Myriam Lefkowitz and Simon Ripoll-Hurier 11:00am to 1:30pm or 2:30pm to 5:00pm In the heart of Silicon Valley in the 1970s, and under the aegis of the CIA, a group of scientists and psychics developed a technique intended to channel extra-sensory perceptions in an effort to produce descriptions of distant targets...
© » KADIST
Helina Metaferia
2023By Way of Revolution is a series that addresses the inherited histories of protest that inform contemporary social movements...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Big Brother is watching you: the exhibition aiming to tackle surveillance and censorship (via SEA Globe) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Radar June 21, 2018 Surveillance and censorship are becoming part and parcel of daily life around the world, and yet many citizens seem content to turn a blind eye to it...