Interview with Wang

Wang, a native of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, and a member of the Royal Photographic Association, has entered the "Golden Triangle" area dozens of times to photograph the living conditions of local people. His personal experience has been ups and downs-he once jumped the queue and settled in Dai village in Xishuangbanna; As a radio editor 10 years; Rich because of opening a photo studio; Then he indulged in the casino for three years and lost all his money ... Just when his life fell to the bottom, the trip to the "Golden Triangle" became a lamp to re-light his life.

"Lao Wang is wearing new shoes!" When I met Wang at the entrance of the Contemporary Art Center, one friend made a fake joke and shouted in surprise, which attracted another friend's echo. The so-called new shoes are actually just a pair of ordinary casual shoes, but the "dressing up" at the moment seems abrupt because the old Wang Duonian they know has come to ride a motorcycle over mountains and mountains to travel in Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and other countries and has been dragging a pair of gray flip-flops.

This middle-aged man in Xishuangbanna is not too tall and slightly vicissitudes. At first glance, he is still a little shy, giving his friends the impression that he is so eccentric and willful: "There is more sensibility and less rationality; Hot-tempered and kind-hearted; Not good at self-management, it is easy to be countered by villains. " But at the same time, everyone sincerely praised him as "one of the best humanistic photographers in China".

Wang came to Shanghai to launch his early photography series "Black and White Brown Mountain". But he is not good at socializing, and often just stands lazily and quietly beside his works, looking more like an exhibition worker. +Compared with the metropolis, the hot, primitive and poor frontier west attracts him more. In addition to the world-famous "Golden Triangle", there is also a simple folk custom similar to Xishuangbanna. So over the years, a life goal has gradually become clear-from an anthropological point of view, a complete record of the life changes of local border people with a lens.

Arrested, overturned, on the road again.

For a long time, there are many words describing the "Golden Triangle" of the mysterious poppy base, but pictures and images are extremely rare. Wang, on the other hand, shot about 65,438+0.5 million minutes of relevant documentary materials and numerous photographic works. These precious and rare materials are the accumulation of people's life and natural scenery in the "Golden Triangle" area that he has traveled to the border for dozens of times in the past ten years. Of course, it is not easy to get into the poison source where the situation is complicated and all directions are armed forces.

/kloc-in the 1980s, after reading several autobiographies of foreign artists, Wang, then literary editor of Xishuangbanna Radio Station, had an impulse: he wanted to go abroad! But it was not easy to go abroad at that time, and it was too far away. 1990, unwilling, he made an appointment with friends and guides and walked more than 200 kilometers into Thailand and Myanmar. This is the first time that Wang has stepped into the "Golden Triangle". At that time, he just felt restless and wanted to explore the road. The war continued along the way, and Wang often encountered thrilling battle scenes and often fled in haste. After observing him for three or four days, some local organizations even hosted a banquet to woo him in an attempt to lure him into becoming a spy with money and beauty. "I took a public holiday and must go back to work as soon as possible," Wang replied.

On the way back to China, they were in trouble again-they were arrested by the Myanmar Intelligence Bureau for illegal entry. In the interrogation room here, Wang insisted that they had never been to Thailand, but at the end of the corridor, the tour guide was afraid of extorting a confession by torture and confessed everything. So these three people were almost thrown into prison. "In Myanmar, they are still sentenced to life imprisonment." Fortunately, Uncle Dai, who spent the night, came and paid the ransom to bail them out.

On June 26th, 2000 1 year, on the day of "International Anti-Drug Day", Wang, who was working in Shenzhen, was touched by a set of data in the media: "At present, there are more than 50 million drug addicts in the world, the annual drug transaction volume is 800 billion to1trillion dollars, and drugs have spread to more than 200 countries and regions ..." He suddenly thought of his hometown Xishuangbanna. Adventure and anxiety began to stir again. So he flew back to Yunnan, shouldered photographic equipment and stepped on slippers, and Wang hit the road again. This time, the motorcycle became his usual mount. One nation, two lives "suddenly a steep slope shines through the forest: more than a dozen thatched cottages are scattered halfway up the mountain, large areas of poppies are shining in the bright sunshine, and the Wa people in the field are busy collecting poppies in a white sea of flowers, which is a good scene of' bumper harvest'. "

The first time I saw the scene of poppy cultivation in a village in Wa State, Myanmar, Wang was shocked, and two big characters immediately came to his mind-poison source! The excitement of creation made him forget his fatigue, put on his camera bag, took candy and cigarettes (for the villagers), got into the poppy field in one breath and kept pressing the shutter.

At that time, Wang saw that opium smoking was still very common. People in every village smoked opium, mainly men. Even when neighbors visited in the evening, they would get together and chat while smoking opium. Wang, who has been wandering in the "Golden Triangle" for several years, said that local people smoke opium as medicine and sometimes give it as a gift, "just like the tea we like to drink." It should be said that Wang had a good time in the western border. Each trip is as short as one week and as long as three months; Go back to China and tidy up before you start. The reason why he took the trouble to go again and again was because of his clear sense of mission and nostalgia. "The mountains here, the water here, and the nationalities here are the same as Xishuangbanna. The people of the two places are closely related in religion, history, culture and blood. " So his lens shows not the curiosity about the source of drugs, but the real life of ordinary border people.

Wang said that when he first went, he just wanted to collect "a comparison of the life and environment of the same people living across borders in different social systems and countries" in order to publish a picture book. When I got closer, I found that their fate was really different. "The ethnic minorities on the other side of the border are still living the life of our ancestors ..." They live in poverty and only regard poppy as a cash crop, but never think it is a drug. "Only drug lords and soldiers have that sense of wealth." They eat salt and pepper noodles, and often there is no oil star at all; The sleeping bamboo board will creak when it is turned over. "The same as when I was a child." Especially the Dai scenery in Nanbazi, Laos, seems to take time back to Xishuangbanna decades ago.

Witness the new Wa state.

In the recent 10 years, Wang witnessed and recorded the poor and backward life of the local people in the "Golden Triangle" due to war, drugs and closure. At the same time, it also witnessed the local efforts and achievements in getting rid of the drug economy and developing alternative cultivation. There was even a local leader who sent someone to observe secretly and invited him to take pictures on his own site. "The' Golden Triangle' is now basically anti-drug, and most internationally renowned drug lords are doing drug business. On the contrary, there are poppies and drugs in the cities of Myanmar. " Wang said that many speculations from outside are actually wrong. "Let me to the boss, once known as the number one drug Lord in Asia. 1996 Joined the Wa army to overthrow the famous Khun Sa Collection and establish the New Deal. Today, poppy has disappeared in his jurisdiction. If his subordinates are found selling or smoking opium, they will all wear shackles and go to prison. " This boss who secretly lives on the Thai-Myanmar border is very influential in the local area, but he never meets the media, including his "hand-picked" guest Lao Wang, and all the news is sent by his men. Under the escort of the army, Wang drove a pickup truck around the Wa land. "I have never seen such a big, so formal farm! All trees have automatic sprinkler irrigation devices. " The first time he went to New Wa State (South), Wang was as surprised as the first time he saw poppy fields.

Tobacco farmers who have been out of poppy cultivation for a hundred years are trying to adapt to the new elements of the times, planting rice, building farms, making wood and mining ... "He also set up a joint-stock company, and the industry is amazing. Most of the highways that can be seen in Myanmar were repaired by him. " These are invisible to outsiders.

A friend said that Lao Wang is a man who has no requirements for material things, and he can't manage himself, and he doesn't know how to make use of these precious things to promote and make profits. "He even deleted all the invitations to the 2009 Paris Documentary Film Festival because he found foreign languages dazzling!" Probably because of this, he can resist the invitation of "money cooperation" again and again and pat his ass and go back to the motorcycle to take pictures.