Huo Chengju
THE installation and photographic work, entitled “Souvenir From Shenzhen,” by French photographer Alexander Brandt, is an eye-catcher at a contemporary art exhibition at Shenzhen Art Museum, which will run through Jan. 25.
Brandt’s work comprises a 4m x 8m rusty barbed wire fence that looks as if it has recently been cut out of the border fence between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
A shiny red metal plate fixed to the fence bears the English words “Souvenir From Shenzhen” in a typeface resembling that of souvenir postcards.
Behind this fence is a large panoramic photograph of the Shenzhen River which winds along the border between the two neighboring cities.
Titled “City Image,” the contemporary art exhibition features about 30 works, including ink paintings, oil paintings, installations, videos and sculptures by 20 artists from China, France and Italy.
“No matter where they come from, or what mediums they have employed, all participating artists have expressed their unique understanding of the process of Chinese urbanization in their works,” said Sun Zhenhua, president of Shenzhen Sculpture Institute and one of the exhibition planners.
Jia Yuchuan, a photo journalist with the Chinese daily newspaper, the Daily Sunshine, has a series of six photographs titled “Shenzhen Metro Builders” in the exhibition.
From 2003 through 2004, Jia often visited the construction sites of Line 1 and 2 of the Shenzhen Metro and took lots of photographs of underground workers.
The series of photographs was published in the Daily Sunshine and the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily in 2005, and was awarded the gold prize in the 13th Chinese Fine Art Photography Contest in Beijing in 2007.
“Through the series of photographs, I’ve tried to record not only the rapid and dramatic progress of Shenzhen’s urbanization and development but also the hard work thousands of migrant workers have done for the construction of Shenzhen, and the harsh working conditions they have gone through,” Jia said.
In preparation for the exhibition, participating artists from home and abroad were invited to attend an academic seminar in Shenzhen in August 2006. Some precipitating artists were even invited to work and live in the city for several months to create their works.
City Image
Dates: Through Jan. 25
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Venue: Shenzhen Art Museum (深圳美术馆)
Add: Inside Donghu Park, Aiguo Road, Luohu District (罗湖区爱国路东湖公园内)
Buses: 3, 17, 23, 29, 52, 106, 208, 211, 320, 351, 365, 372
