Zhou Dongjing: A Butterfly Chasing Flowers in a Dream

A small river in the south of the Yangtze River slowly returns to time, and the memory overflows with shallow gravel and enters deep years: in summer dusk, lotus ponds are blooming everywhere, and boys and girls are swinging boats, caressing lotus flowers and competing for them. Girls are wet all over, and their laughter is crisp. Boys with good water quality simply pour water and pour onions to stir up the golden sunshine in the pond ...

Zhou Dongjing's Quiet River took me back to my long hometown. Things that were almost lost in childhood came one after another: long benches, straw bundles, wooden pots, Chai Fei trails, bamboo leaves, teak trees, stoves and pots, chicken and duck nests, red candles for ancestor worship ... These household items left in the images have been infected with human feelings for a long time.

Novalis said that people always look for their homes with homesickness. The economy is developing and the countryside is retreating. Things attached to emotion and spirit are constantly losing, machinery is rumbling, and Jiangnan is drifting away. Zhou Dongjing's shooting is not only homesickness, but also the mutual search between image and soul, which is a capture of his own life consciousness.

It is not only the nostalgia of human beings, but also the eternal confusion of human life: the river of time has disappeared, leaving a childhood, a home, a boat, a lotus pond and a grapefruit tree that can be picked and eaten every year. Where is it going? In this rolling river, what can people do and keep?

In this dream shadow left over from yesterday, perhaps what Zhou Dongjing wants to relive is the place where such people can live permanently. The land is stable, the cooking is fragrant, the lotus leaves are cultivated, and everything is in pity. Especially the butterfly chasing flowers in love figure. It is born of dreams and is the spark of life. It still carries all the secrets and beauty of the past life.

In my dream, butterflies are flying and flowers are still fragrant. Please let me stay a little longer!

Tao: Your previous works were all in black and white, but this group of Quiet Rivers is in color. Can you talk about your views on black-and-white photography and color photography?

Zhou: Black and white look purer, and it is easier to unify in one breath. Color information will be more abundant, and you can see the time and temperature. However, if you can choose a shooting form from beginning to end, I personally think it is more tonal.

Tao: From the photos, you have a good classical aesthetic accomplishment and a melancholy loneliness. What role did these qualities and temperament play in your creative process?

Tao: What does photography mean to you? Is it a way to relieve your depression and release the passion you can't let go?

Zhou: Both. After a long ordinary life, you will want to go out for outdoor sports. I hope I can use it to express some unspeakable people, things or feelings. But I often feel that the effect is similar to the fan in the hand of the square dance aunt and the sword in the hand of the uncle.

Tao: Then please tell me what a good photo in your mind looks like.

Zhou: In this different situation, there may be different opinions. A beautiful scenery will also be liked, but it can lead to thinking and ask questions. Implicit photos are more touching. Personally, I prefer quiet pictures and photos with imagination. Take a look, want to take another look, just stare at the photo for a while.

Tao: This group of Silent Rivers is very quiet. There are no people in the picture, but all of them are ghosting. Is this a kind of "token"?

Zhou: This is a village that is being demolished. Few people live there, and sometimes they won't meet anyone after walking for a long time, so there are few photos of people, so they are simply removed. Those still things may also be more in line with my mood at that time, more like the pictures I flashed when I woke up from sleep many times.

Tao: The world has undergone earth-shaking changes. What do you think of this change? What can photography do in this change?

Zhou: Photography is nothing. Personally, I think it may be to preserve some time memories and seek short-term self-comfort from reality.

Tao: What works of art or photography touched you and influenced you in this study?

Zhou: There are fewer and fewer photographs now, and I haven't studied them systematically. The photography status of you and Mao Da in the circle has always fascinated me, and it can be said that it has always encouraged and influenced me to continue filming.

Text: Taoxi

Photography: Zhou Dongjing

Produced by Sioux City Chronicle—

(2020/09/ 18)

033: The Lost Lake

040: I'm from the alley.

050: Panmen Old Story

065: Meet quietly

068: Suzhou Scenery (1)

069: Suzhou Scenery (Part Two)

077: "There is a City" waded in.

078: "There is a City" walks through the strip.

08 1: "There is a City" meets the water and overlaps the bridge.

085: There is a City under Spring and Autumn.

086: There is a City Looking for Dreams in the Garden

090: "There is a City" Flowers and trees sometimes

093: "There is a City" creatures are speechless.

094: a city that meets by chance.

100: there is a city with ever-changing life.

1 16: Walker's hair is big: everything grows.

Alien Xiao Qiang: Every photo is a firework.

Color circle no.276

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