Whose history needs to be recorded?

Recently, the photo exhibition "Mike" by the late documentary photographer Hou Dengke was held in Shenzhen. 12 years ago, when he died young, the era of reading pictures was dawning, but it was far from reaching the point where images are flooding today. Hou Dengke's documentary photography, which he has been engaged in all his life, has also undergone an embarrassing transformation in more than ten years. Recalling the wide-ranging debate caused by the announcement of the documentary photography award named after "Hou Dengke", we can see how complicated photography has gone through.

Today, rereading Hou Dengke in Shenzhen, the youngest big city in China, is a reflection after the context is reset. Hou Dengke pays attention to the "suffering people" who struggle for survival like ants all his life, which is the proper meaning of documentary photography. However, rereading the value of Hou Dengke at this time is not only to appreciate the solid image of "Mike", but more importantly, to appreciate what Hou Dengke reflected: the subjectivity in documentary photography and the power behind the camera. Their History, written by critic Yang Xiaoyan in 2000, is still original and forward-looking today.