Exhibition opens at China Design Centre, on Fri 11th November (private view 6.30 – 9pm)
Exhibition continues to Friday 18th November. Opening times: Mon – Fri 10am – 6pm (Sat: 10am – 5pm)
There will be a talk and discussion chaired by Dr. Lucy Soutter on Tuesday 15th Nov 6.30 – 7.30pm.
At China Design Centre, The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT
INTRODUCTION
This exhibition of still and moving image brings together Chinese graduates from The University of Westminster’s MA Photographic Studies with some of their invited colleagues. The exhibition takes its title from the The Chinese characters 写 (Reflect) and 真 (Truth) which are commonly used to represent ‘photography’.
Students of photography are commonly engaged in debates around the relationships between the image and its real world sources – questioning the extent to which the photograph can reflect the nature of the world it depicts and how it operates as an artistic medium. Here, documentary tendencies collide with fiction, allegory and metaphor. The research process required to create such artworks provides the space to look for commonalities and divergences and to turn them into something we can point at, something we can recognize.
Exposure to differing viewpoints and experiences enlarges our world and unquestionably affects the outcome of the work of artists and photographers. Periods of study and work abroad are opportunities to see our own origins from a distance and to gain new perspectives. This exhibition allows us to observe the juxtaposition and intermingling of various cultural discourses. These thoughtful photographic projects provide an insight into the world as experienced through multiple perspectives.
For the Chinese title of the exhibition we have translated the English title back into Chinese, preferring the characters 现 and 像 which together give a better sense of the implications of the English phrase ‘Reflect the Truth’.
ALLAN PARKER – Curator
《现·像》摄影展概要
本次摄影与影像展囊括了威斯敏斯特大学摄影艺术专业的优秀中国毕业生作品，以及他们认同从而邀请的其他摄影作品。在中文里，“写真”亦指 “摄影”，《现·像》的含义既源于此。
摄影专业的学生们常常展开关于影像与其真实世界来源的辩论：质疑照片能展现它所描绘的世界的程度，以及它是如何作为一种艺术媒介的。在这里，纪实通过寓言和隐喻倾向于与虚构碰撞。研究的过程要求我们创造出这样的艺术作品：不仅能提供找寻共性和分歧的空间，还能够把他们转化成我们所能认知和识别的点。
不同的观点和经验相互接触，不仅扩大了我们的世界，也毫无以问会影响艺术家和摄影师的工作成果。出国学习和工作，是让我们从远处看到自己的来源并获得新的视角的机会。本次摄影展使我们能够观察到各种文化话语的并列和交织。这些关切的摄影作品提供了通过多角度体验和洞察世界的可能。
最后，关于摄影展的标题。我们将英文的标题翻译成中文，决定了 “现”与“像”两个中文字，而当他们一起，这个词给与了‘Reflect the Truth(反映现实)’恰当的意义。
–文Allan Parker 翻译：Sunsun Liu（刘桑)