Zhou Guoxian talks about documentary photography (1)

Mr. Zhou Guoxian is a well-known documentary photographer rooted in Wuhan. He has been committed to the creation and exploration of documentary photography themes for many years, photographing "Hanzheng Street Pole", "Jiangcheng Water Houses", and "Jiqing Street Singer" , "Industrial Memory of Greater Wuhan" and many other excellent series of works. His photographic works have participated in solo exhibitions at international and domestic photography festivals such as China Pingyao International Photography Exhibition, China Lishui International Photography Festival, Dali International Photography Festival, Jinan International Photography Biennale, and China Photography Art Festival, as well as at Wuhan Museum, Jianghanguan Museum, Photography solo exhibitions at Zhuoer Bookstore and Wuwai Bookstore, etc., and published in newspapers and media such as "China Photography News", "People's Photography" newspaper, "Chinese Photographer" magazine, "Digital Photography" magazine and other newspapers and media; won the 13th Prize in 2013 China Pingyao International Photography Exhibition Outstanding Photographer Award, 2017 Sixth Hou Dengke Documentary Photography Award Nomination Award, 2019 China Financial Photographers Association Person of the Year, Hubei Province 2014 Annual Photography Person Award, 2016 Third "Wuhan Municipal Literary and Art Award" for outstanding literary and artistic works and other awards; the 2018 photography project ""Greater Wuhan" Wuhan Industrial Heritage Protection Thematic Photography Project" was funded by the Hubei Provincial Quality Literary and Art Creation Support Fund Project. Photography works/photography collections have been collected by Wuhan Museum, Wuhan Municipal Archives and National Museum of China.

Luoluo looks at pictures? Q1

When it comes to "documentary photography", everyone is familiar with it. However, when you talked about several stages of your photography, you mentioned several terms, such as traditional documentary photography, new documentary photography, subjective documentary photography and documentary photography. This lets us know that in fact, "documentary photography" "It has a very deep connotation. Can you explain to us your understanding of these types of photography based on your shooting practice and works?

Zhou Guoxian: It is difficult to give an accurate definition of documentary photography. Arthur Rothstein explained the concept of documentary photography in his 1986 book "Documentary Photography" as follows: The word documentary comes from the Latin word docere, which means "to teach." The function of documentary photos is not only to convey information, but also to guide viewers to understand certain aspects of society from the truth they reveal. The word "documentary" describes a style and a method. There have been many other suggestions—realistic, factual, historical—but none of them conveyed the documentary tradition's deep respect for truth and its positive interpretation of our world. creative desire. Arthur Rothstein also pointed out: Documentary photography should convey a certain appeal, so that it can be different from landscape, portrait or street scene photos. The things recorded should have more meaning than random snapshots, and should reveal more of the subject's state of mind rather than just their appearance. Documentary photographs say something about our world and prompt us to rethink people and their environment.

Some domestic researchers believe: “Documentary photography is the work of photographers who have a strong sense of social responsibility and mission, adhering to the spirit of humanitarianism and kindness, and using unparalleled perseverance and even dedication to penetrate into the depths of human beings. Live in reality, truly understand and respect the subjects, do not make up, do not whitewash, do not exaggerate, most of the real scenes are reproduced in the form of snapshots, whether beautiful or ugly, the purpose of documentary photography is to express a real world. To arouse people's attention, arouse social conscience, and at the same time record unique culture and leave precious historical wealth for future generations. "This definition has limitations, but it can be regarded as an expression of traditional documentary photography in a narrow sense.

In fact, "traditional documentary photography" is relative to "new documentary photography" (see discussion below). "Traditional documentary photography" pays more attention to recording, while "new documentary photography" pays more attention to expression. Several sets of early works I shot in the 1980s and previous years belong to the category of traditional documentary photography. Most of them were captured in a snapshot manner without interfering with the subjects, faithfully recording the daily lives of ordinary people, focusing on underlying narratives and arousing emotions. But avoid catering to the public's curiosity and voyeurism, and strive to photograph the subjects with dignity.

(Photography solo exhibition at the 9th China Photography Art Festival in 2012)

(Photography solo exhibition at the 9th China Photography Art Festival in 2012)

(2011 Lishui International Photography Festival Solo Exhibition)

(2013 Pingyao International Photography Exhibition Solo Exhibition, won the 13th Pingyao International Photography Exhibition Outstanding Photographer Award)

(2013 Wuhan Museum Solo Exhibition )

(2014 Pingyao International Photography Exhibition Solo Exhibition)

(2015 Zall Art Museum's "Four Notes on a Floating Life - Zhou Guoxian's Documentary Photography Exhibition" and Wuhan Wuwai Bookstore Photography Solo exhibition "Century-old Li Divided into Xian'an Square")

(2015 Zaoer Art Museum "Four Notes on a Floating Life - Documentary Photography Works Exhibition of Zhou Guoxian")

For "New Documentary Photography" "It is more difficult to give a clear definition. It is a thing or concept that is still evolving.

Taiwanese scholar Guo Lixin believes that the “New Documents” photography exhibition in 1967, curated by John Szarkowski, then director of the photography department of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, marked the rise of new documentary photography. (But the pioneering work of new documentary photography is undoubtedly "The Americans" shot by Robert Frank in the 1950s.)

The difference between new documentary photography and traditional documentary photography, I think, is mainly reflected in: " "New documentary photography" rejects the sublime and strives to see things from one's own perspective; it no longer serves as a tool for education and integrates more subjective feelings about the real society; it no longer has a moral high ground, clear values ??and value judgments, and tends to If you look on coldly, the images may be ambiguous or full of metaphors; you may not try to change life, but just want to understand it; you may not try to change society, but you may achieve your own redemption or reconciliation.

I started creating in 2018, and my solo exhibition work "Exit" at the 2nd Shenyang Contemporary Photography Academic Invitational Exhibition in 2021 is an example of new documentary photography. It shows what happened after the Chinese army stopped paying service. The urban landscape reflects the reality of Chinese society from one side. Earlier works, such as the solo exhibition "Vending Machine" at the Lishui Photography Festival in 2015, the solo exhibition "Hanzheng Street Photo Album" at the 6th Jinan International Photography Biennale in 2016, and the solo exhibition "Dali" at the 2017 Dali International Film Festival Wuhan" (nominated for the 6th Hou Dengke Documentary Photography Award), and the 2019 album "The Roaring Distant - Jingchu Industrial Factory Typology Catalog" and other works can also be classified into the category of "new documentary" .

(Solo exhibition at the 6th Jinan International Photography Biennale in 2016, won the Outstanding Photography Exhibition Award)

(Solo exhibition at the Dali International Photography Festival in 2017, won the 6th Hou Dengke Documentary Award Photography Award Nomination Award)

(2021 Second Shenyang Contemporary Photography Academic Invitational Exhibition Solo Exhibition)

Subjective documentary photography is actually a form of expression of new documentary photography. Relative to objective documentary (traditional documentary photography). Objective documentary photography focuses on the "reproduction" of reality, while subjective documentary photography focuses on "expression", that is, under the principle of "truth", it pays more attention to the expression of thoughts, emotions, and concepts. Wang Qingsong's "Different Documentary" series of director-oriented works ("Lao Li's Night Banquet", etc.) are examples of subjective documentary photography; I started shooting in 2013 and exhibited my solo exhibition "Automatic Set" at the Lishui Photography Festival in 2015. "Machine" is an attempt at subjective documentary. The saturation of the work was deliberately increased during computer post-processing in an attempt to enhance the absurdity of the subject matter.

(2015 Lishui Photography Festival Solo Exhibition)

Documentary photography and documentary photography are actually the same word (Documentary Photography) in English. The expression "documentary photography" is used in China mainly to emphasize the documentary, archival and objectivity of its works. André Huye pointed out in the book "Photography: From Documentation to Contemporary Art": "One of the major functions of documentary photography should be to conduct a new inventory and archive of reality in the form of a photo album." My Industry The theme photography project is based on the idea of ????documentary photography, trying to comprehensively scan and archive Hubei's industrial heritage. Nowadays, many of the old factories I photographed have been demolished. As the last photos of the factories, my works have become important image documents of the factories.

Picture source | Luoluo Pictures (unless otherwise noted)

Photography | Zhou Guoxian

Oral Narration |?Zhou Guoxian

Compilation | ?Xueli Basho

Editor and review|Xueli Basho, Zoe