From grainy film to the iPhone: Exhibition showcases Chinese contemporary photography

Liz Newmark
© The Bulletin
28/08/2016

40 works by the country’s leading photographers reflect the nuances of Chinese society from 1980s to today.

The shift from film to digital photography was a watershed moment for artists around the world. It was especially significant in China, where it coincided with the economic reforms and social transformations of the 1980s.

Brussels' China Cultural Centre (CCC) is showcasing from today until 10 September some of China’s finest contemporary photography. The exhibition, China: Grain to Pixel, housed in a beautiful Neoclassical building in the EU quarter, displays 40 works from 25 photographers and marks China’s radical social and cultural changes over the past 35 years.

Young, aspirational photographers including Chen Man (28) and Chilli (29), who studied together, demonstrate commercial - even kitsch - images, particularly Chen’s exhibition poster "Miss Wei Studies Hard". This depicts a mini-shorted woman, the granddaughter no less of Wan Li, an economic leader under Deng Xiaoping, cycling with her Dior bag on a bicycle piled high with books.

Organised by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV and the CCC, which celebrates its first year on 15 September, the exhibition is curated by the Shanghai Center of Photography, founded by Pulitzer prize-winning photographer and author Liu Heung Shing and his partner Karen Smith.

Hong Kong-born Liu, a former foreign correspondent and Associated Press photojournalist, told The Bulletin: "This show, a pared down version of one in Melbourne, emphasises the major changes in Chinese life and photography from 1980 to now.

“Photography is huge in China, especially now with the iPhone. Instead of traditional documentation, young people are using film and digital techniques, with photography an art form in a much broader way possible than it was before.”

Read more at TheBulletin.be

Until 10 Septmber, China Cultural Centre, Rue Philippe le Bon 2, Brussels. Open Monday-Friday 9.30-18.00. The CCC’s next exhibition, Water + Ink: Tradition in Contemporary Art, runs from 1-24 September.

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