Cheng Xinhao╱Time from Different Sources: Images from Ciman Village╱RARE
Published by Jiazazhi Press
Size: 305mm x 255mm x 40mm
174 pages, Leatherette Hardcover
First Edition: 800, Published in May 2017
This book is shortlisted in 2017 Arles Author Book Award.
About the Artist
Cheng Xinhao, born in Yunnan Province in 1985, got his Ph.D. from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering in PKU in 2013. As one of the finalists of 2015 Three Shadow Photography Award he won the Shiseido Photographer Prize. His book The Naming of a River was shortlist as the first book award by Aperture- Paris Photo. Now he lives and works as an artist in Kunming, Yunnan.
About the Book
This is our second publication for artist Cheng Xinhao.
In the body of works Cheng uses polyphonic narrative to present the reality of a Naxi village in Southwest China during urbanization. This book, as response of the “comprehensive” series, is visualized polyphony. It’s no exaggeration to say that this is a handmade book in mass production.
Statement by the Artist
If the city does not come here soon, these new migrants may settle permanently, becoming the new locals. The seemingly tranquil village is being rapidly changed. Here, times from different sources unfold in parallel in everyday life, struggle against each other, and finally homogenized, or find their ways to live together. This artwork is a response to these contingencies of urbanization. The four components of the artwork speak respectively of geological time, contemporary time in the village, historical time in the village, and the tension of the physical body existing within this time. I attempt to reconstruct these coexisting contemporary situations through a polyphonic narrative approach. Instead of a simplified narrative, the complex reality could be represented with its full complexity and flexibility through this method. In the process, the perspective of a fictitious figure and multiple threads are constructed. They rise from unnoticed details, and entangle each other as the narrative progresses, expanding and contracting against each other until all of the images are linked together. Through this way, folding forms in the overarching narrative, while eddies and undercurrents emerge in the linear timeline. Eventually, these images form an analysis of reality that uncovers the discourse lying concealed under its smooth surface.
Signed copy available
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