Travel Journal #China 2017 – Day 4

Since we visited Lianzhou in 2016, a rural city with 500 000 inhabitants, situated in the mountains 200km from the west of Canton, it is hard to not get attached. The photo festival that has been taking place for 13 years is the most prominent in China regarded in contemporary photography. This year, a leading museum opens it’s doors. We will present to you it’s 70 exhibitions presented throughout next week. At our arrival, we went to see the end of the installations to reveal before-hand what is hiding in the heart of China. For what is themes of the environment, consequences of economic development, loss of bearings and nostalgia, these seem to be very present. Here’s a small tour in images.

The town is covered in the colours of Lianzhou festival with the theme “You and your Selfie Stick”, a contrast with the landscape © Fisheye

This years novelty is the building of a museum that will be opened Saturday 2nd of December with the notorious exhibition of Albert Watson in a unique setting © Fisheye

A recurring theme is destruction within nature. Many exhibitions, such as those of Li Zhixiong and Tian Zhong, showing mines by open sky in China, showing  the destruction of entire areas © Fisheye

Youth searching for meaning and rejuvenation comes back with a kick. Here, we see Tan Qiumin’s work who has worked for two years on a street, 200 meters long attracting the youth of the town in Lishui. Questions about futur, happiness and aspirations in love characterize this work © Fisheye

This black and white photo of Chinese landscapes is a large classic © Fisheye

The night before the official opening, not yet ready. But these artists and commissioners persist with a beautiful energy © Fisheye

In « 1000 selfies », Shang Liang shows his self-portraits taken since 2012. It is his very first exhibition and we can already feel a very strong potential. So, we took the 1001 selfie with him © Fisheye