Civilization Classic: Wumeng Miners Civilized Miners

The series "Wumeng Miners" shot by Yunnan photographer Geng Yunsheng about the living conditions of miners in small coal mines is one of the outstanding documentary photography works in China today. It is a cry for the disadvantaged workers living at the bottom. song! Geng Yunsheng spent six years visiting many small coal mines in northeastern Yunnan more than 20 times, and was very sympathetic to the working environment and living conditions of these coal miners hidden deep in the mountains. He made friends with this group of coal miners living at the bottom, and used his camera to truly and vividly witness their extremely difficult and little-known poor living conditions. He hopes that society will pay attention to the difficult situation of this group of disadvantaged workers and change their poor living conditions as soon as possible. Geng Yunsheng is using his camera to shout for this group of disadvantaged workers, "to establish a monument and a legend"! He is undoubtedly a humanitarian photographer with a conscience.

Geng Yunsheng was one of the many amateur photography “enthusiasts” in Yunnan in the early 1990s. At that time, most photography enthusiasts were keen on taking pictures of the sunrise and sunset, the scenery of ripples and clouds, the graceful dancing of red-billed gulls, and the colors and lines of red earth, and other beautiful picturesque photography. As soon as Geng Yunsheng started to get involved in photography, he paid attention to people and photographed them. His photography works that have won many awards across the country (including Taiwan) are all documentary photography works that focus on people. Kunming is changing too fast. The disappearance of the old city of Kunming started in 1995, only four or five years ago. Things that disappear feel even more precious. In 2001, Geng Yunsheng's photography collection "Kunming Past" was published. These photos not only showed the warm cultural environment of Kunming before the old city disappeared, but also paid attention to the complex emotional state of Kunming people during the demise of the old city. Their photographic language and image quality made Insiders were impressed. What so many professional photographers in Kunming have never done, he, an amateur photographer, quietly did it for six or seven years. This is really rare in the current impetuous photography world.

Most people only know "record" and "documentary" about China's documentary photography, which has even become synonymous with photography for "major historical themes", "major themes" and "focus and hot topics", often ignoring the importance of images. The wonderful grasp of compositional expressions and typical moments makes documentary photography flow into mediocre records with the same wide-angle lens, lacking the profound expression of the individual characteristics of the image. Geng Yunsheng's documentary photography works attach great importance to the artistic composition of images and the wonderful capture of typical moments. His works are profound, touching and unforgettable! In 2004, his "Wumeng Miners" series of documentary photography won the first prize of the "Human Contribution Award" and the gold medal in the documentary category of the 21st National Photographic Art Exhibition. This is the best proof.

Resume of Geng Yunsheng

In 1954, he was born in Kunming City, Yunnan Province (ancestral home in Anhui);

In 1990, he began to study photography;

In 1995, he won the Silver Medal Award at the 7th "International Photographic Art Exhibition";

In 1997, he participated in the large-scale creative activity "Photographers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait Look at the Three Gorges" organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Taiwan Chinese Photography Association. , joined the China Photographers Association.

In 2001, he published a personal photography collection "Kunming Past" and was invited to participate in the first Pingyao International Photography Festival to exhibit his personal thematic photography "Kunming Past";

In 2003, in response to the Taiwan History Invited by the museum to participate in the "Millennium Love Cross-Strait Photography Masters Joint Exhibition", the personal thematic photography "Wumeng Coal Kiln" was exhibited;

In 2004, he won the Golden Wing Award of the "Millennium Love World Chinese Photography Competition" ; Won the first prize of the 4th "Human Contribution Award"; won the gold medal in the documentary category of the 21st National Photography Art Exhibition;

In 2005, participated in the Pingyao International Photography Exhibition and exhibited "Wumeng Miners" ; Exhibited "Miners of Wumeng" at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris;

In 2006, won the Yunnan Literary and Art Contribution Award; participated in the 2nd Lianzhou International Photography Festival and exhibited "Miners of Wumeng" .

Photography Notes of Geng Yunsheng

In 1995, I first visited a small coal kiln called Mocao Bay in the Wumeng Mountains at the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces with several fellow photographers. , when I saw the working conditions of the workers, I was shocked by the scene in front of me: at the entrance of a hole less than one meter high, from the hole where I could not see my fingers, a worker pulling coal crawled out like a mountain gecko using his hands and feet. , holding a kerosene lamp in his mouth, dragging a bamboo boat-shaped basket behind him. The basket contained nearly 200 kilograms of coal. He was sweating profusely and crawled forward step by step. Every step forward had to be exerted. It took all the strength of the whole body to stand up after the coal was poured out of the bamboo basket after being weighed. Looking at the worker, the whole body was stained black with soot and sweat. The only thing that could be seen was a pair of eyeballs and a row of teeth. . If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, it would be unbelievable. At that time, because my companion who went with me had to rush back to the provincial capital, I couldn't stay here for a long time, so I took a few photos and left in a hurry.

For a long time after I came back, the scene of miners pulling coal always appeared in my mind. Why did this primitive working method appear today in the 20th century? What was the life of those miners really like? This kind of doubt bothered me all the time, so I came up with the idea of ??photographing them.

In the following years, I traveled to and from large and small coal mines in the Wumeng Mountains again and again, and truly photographed every moment of the miners' work, life, and rest...