6 photographers in 'self-discovery' journey

By Zhang Rui: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, September 28, 2016

The opening ceremony of the exhibition "Voices" is held at the TAN Gallery in 751 D-Park, Beijing, Sept. 24, 2016. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

In the photo series "Si Jia Gou -- Remembering Home," Amelie Kahn-Ackermann goes back to her roots. Amelie was born in Beijing in 1993 and grew up in Italy, Russia and China. In a remote place in the north of Shanxi Province she captures what is possibly soon to be gone. Kahn-Ackermann discovered her mother's hometown is a remote mountain village, where 50 more newly added relatives still preserve the traditional lifestyle in old cave houses. It is like traveling in a time capsule, to find the bond between herself and her forefathers.

Although the village is also going through the fast development of China, encountering similar problems of other villages in such conditions, with youth seeking employment in big towns while the elders and children stay behind. The atmosphere she captures dates back 20 years or more; time stops in the village as if it is waiting for her homecoming to show what happened in the past and is happening at present.

She won the Germany Young Photographers Award for her series Sijiagou in 2016.

Jonas Feige chooses a different path: "In Night on the Sun" he takes what he discovers, dismantles it and conveys it into a new visual world. In his consciousness he is constantly filtering the real and thus creates an expression of his inner reality. He does soul searching through discovering his surroundings and mundane details; he goes into his reflection of life and makes the ordinary objects transcend spiritual implications.

In her series "Basterland," Julia Runge is encountering the descendants of German colonial rulers in Namibia in southern Africa. Julia lived in a remote area for two years, following the people, the mixed race people, offspring of the Western colonizers and the local people. Especially after 1890 German occupation, the German influence was very strong.

These people used to suffer racial prejudice. They may never have been to the West, but they adopt the traditional costume and farming lifestyle one can find in European farming communities.

"It is a refreshing experience while we travel with these works in this exhibition, we all spend our whole life embarking on a home coming journey, whether it is physical or spiritual, I wish we all find peace," curator Wang said.

The exhibition is being staged at the TAN Gallery in 751 D-Park.

Time and Address: Sept 24 - Oct 24, 9 am - 6 pm, F1 751 Fashion Echo, 751D Park No. 04, Jiuxian Bridge Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing.