20 13 photography summary

Mr Zhou Guoxian is a famous documentary photographer with roots in Wuhan. Over the years, he has devoted himself to the creation and exploration of documentary photography, and has shot many excellent series of works, such as Hanzheng Street Pole, Jiangcheng House Boat, Qing Ji Street Singer, and Memory of Wuhan Industry. His photography works have participated in solo exhibitions of international and domestic photography festivals such as Pingyao International Photography Exhibition in China, Lishui International Photography Festival in China, Dali International Film Festival, Jinan International Photography Biennale and China Photography Art Festival, as well as solo exhibitions of Wuhan Museum, Jianghan Museum, Zall Bookstore and Wuwai Bookstore, and have been published in magazines such as China Photography, People Photography, China Photographer and Digital Photography. Won 13 Excellent Photographer Award of Pingyao International Photography Exhibition in China 20 13 Nomination Award of the 6th Hou Dengke Documentary Photography Award 20 17 Person of the Year Award of China Financial Photographers Association 20 19 Hubei Photographer Works Award 20 14 Third Prize 20 16. Photographic works/collections are collected by Wuhan Museum, Wuhan Archives and China National Museum.

Look at the picture Q 1?

When it comes to documentary photography, everyone is no stranger. But when you talk about your own photography stage, you mentioned several terms, such as traditional documentary photography, new documentary photography, subjective documentary photography and documentary photography, which let us know the profound connotation of "documentary photography". Can you explain your understanding of these kinds of photography for us in combination with your shooting practice and works?

Zhou Guoxian: It is difficult to give an accurate definition of documentary photography. In the book Documentary Photography published by 1986, Arthur rostain explained the concept of documentary photography as follows: the word documentary comes from Latin documentary, which means "teaching". The function of documentary photos is not only to convey information, but also to guide viewers to realize some aspects of society from the truth he reveals. The word "documentary" describes a style and a method. There are many other suggestions-realistic, factual and historical-but none of them can express deep respect for truth and creative desire to actively explain our world. Arthur rostain also pointed out: Documentary photography should convey certain demands, so as to distinguish it from landscape, portrait or street view photos. Recorded events should be more meaningful than readily available snapshots, and should reveal the subject's mood better than shapes. Documentary photos can tell something about our world and make us rethink people and the environment.

Some researchers in China believe: "Documentary photography is that photographers, with a strong sense of social responsibility and mission, adhere to the principles of humanitarianism and kindness, go deep into the reality of human existence with unparalleled perseverance and even dedication, truly understand and respect the subject, without fiction, whitewashing or exaggeration, and mostly reproduce real scenes by capturing. Documentary photography, whether beautiful or ugly, is to show a real world, arouse people's attention, arouse social conscience, and record unique culture at the same time, leaving valuable historical wealth for future generations. " This definition has limitations, but it is also a narrow expression of traditional documentary photography.

In fact, "traditional documentary photography" is relative to "new documentary photography" (see discussion later). "Traditional documentary photography" pays more attention to recording, while "new documentary photography" pays more attention to performance. Several groups of early works I shot in the 1980s and a few years ago all belong to the category of traditional documentary photography. Most of them capture photos without disturbing the subject, truthfully record the daily life of ordinary people, emphasize the underlying narrative, and arouse emotional resonance, but avoid catering to the public's curiosity and voyeurism, and strive to make the subject have dignity.

(20 12 photography solo exhibition of the 9th China Photography Art Festival)

(20 12 photography solo exhibition of the 9th China Photography Art Festival)

(20 1 1 solo exhibition of Lishui International Photography Festival)

(20 13 Pingyao international photography exhibition solo exhibition, won the 13 Pingyao international photography exhibition excellent photographer award)

(20 13 solo exhibition of Wuhan Museum)

(2065438+2004 Pingyao International Photography Exhibition)

(20 15 "Four Stories of a Floating Life" by Zall Art Museum —— Zhou Guoxian Documentary Photography Exhibition and Wuhan Wuwai Bookstore Photography Solo Exhibition "Hundred-year-old Li Fenxian An Fang")

(20 15 "Four Stories of a Floating Life-Zhou Guoxian Documentary Photography Exhibition" by Zall Art Museum)

It is difficult to give a clear definition of "new documentary photography", which is still developing. Guo Lixin, a scholar in Taiwan Province, thinks that 1967, the "New Literature" photography exhibition planned by John Sakowski, then director of the photography department of the Museum of Modern Art, marked the rise of new documentary photography. (But the pioneering work of new documentary photography is "The American" shot by robert frank in 1950s. )

I think the main difference between new documentary photography and traditional documentary photography lies in: "new documentary photography" refuses to be sublime and strives to see things from its own perspective; No longer as a tool of education, but more integrated into the subjective feelings of the real society; Without moral commanding heights and clear values and value judgments, they often look on coldly. Images may be blurred or full of metaphors; Don't try to change your life, just want to understand it; Don't try to change society, but you may achieve redemption or reconciliation for yourself.

I started to create from 20 18, and my solo work "Exit" at the 2nd Shenyang Contemporary Photography Academic Invitation Exhibition on 2002/kloc-0 is an example of new documentary photography, which shows the urban landscape after the paid service of China army stopped, and reflects the reality of China society from one side. Earlier works, such as solo exhibition of Lishui Photography Festival on 20/KOOC-0/5, solo exhibition of Hanzheng Street in the 6th Jinan International Photography Biennale on 20/KOOC-0/6, and solo exhibition of Dali International Film Festival on 20/KOOC-0/7 (nominated for the 6th Hou Dengke Documentary Photography Award).

(20 16 solo exhibition of the 6th Jinan International Photography Biennale, won the excellent photography exhibition award)

(20 17 solo exhibition at Dali International Film Festival, nominated for the 6th Hou Dengke Documentary Photography Award)

(202 1 The 2nd Shenyang Contemporary Photography Academic Invitational Exhibition)

Subjective documentary photography is actually a manifestation of new documentary photography, and subjective documentary photography is a relatively objective documentary (traditional documentary photography). Objective documentary photography focuses on "reappearing" reality, while subjective documentary photography focuses on "performance", that is, under the principle of "truth", it pays more attention to the expression of thoughts, emotions and concepts. A series of works directed by directors, such as Wang Qingsong's Another Documentary (Old Chestnut Banquet). ) are examples of subjective documentary photography; Shooting started on 20 13, and was exhibited at Lishui Photography Festival on 20 15. The personal work vending machine is an attempt of subjective documentary. In the post-processing of the computer, the saturation of the work is deliberately increased, trying to strengthen the absurdity of the theme.

(20 15 solo exhibition of Lishui Photography Festival)

Documentary photography is actually the same word as documentary photography in English. The expression "documentary photography" is used in China mainly to emphasize the documentary, archival and objectivity of his works. Andre Hu Ye pointed out in his book Photography: From Literature to Contemporary Art: "One of the main functions of documentary photography should be to make a new inventory and archive of reality in the form of photo albums." My industrial photography project is to try to scan and archive Hubei's industrial heritage in all directions according to the idea of documentary photography. Now many of the old factories I photographed have been demolished, and my works, as the last photos of the factory, have become important video documents of the factory.

Image source | Look at the picture (unless otherwise marked)

Photography | Zhou Guoxian

Dictation |? Endy Chow

Finishing |? Bananas in the snow

Edit | Banana in the snow, Zoe