TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“Kee Lung“)
© Michio Yamauchi, 2007

Call it wanderlust but the mere sight of Michio Yamauchi’s street documentary incited a deep yearning to explore the world. When looking at his images, the viewer senses the photographer’s presence, exposed in stark black-and-white or muted monotone.

For more: visit Michio Yamuchi’s portfolio or join his page on Facebook.

Held in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, the International Orange Photo Festival took place from Oct 22 to 29. This event aims to grow into an influential creative cultural projects, and also to promote the city of Changsha. The exhibitions included international names from the region and beyond, alongside works by Chinese photographers. Visit the official website to find out more about the festival. Photographer/writer Zhuang Wubin reported from festival, he also curated one of the exhibitions for South East Asian photography.

(While I try to lead my double life, I would love it if future festival organizers would send me invites for all-expense-paid trips. :D)

A number of familiar names will be showing at the festival and a lot more unfamiliar ones. I will probably scour through the list and dig up the photographers’ works. What’s noteworthy is the slideshows to be shown throughout the city – one on the Bangkok unrest earlier this year and the devastation that ripped through Haiti.

A pity I won’t be attending (I used to lack the funds, now I lack the time.) but do make your travel arrangements early. I heard that accommodation would be close to impossible to find during that period.

Visit the website and the latest newsletter for more information.

The inaugural exhibition – Technicolor Japan, places Japanese photography from the late Edo period alongside contemporary artwork from artists from various practices.

Location: 20 Cairnhill Road S(229652)
Website: www.vueprivee.comm

© Joyce Choo

ONE is a pioneer convention uniting established professionals and aspiring photographers towards a singular goal : The perfection of the craft in medium and large sensor photography. ONE aims to be a powerful platform for existing professional to showcase their new personal works based on the “ONE” theme and for aspiring photographers to launch their careers through adapting industry practices and workflow systems.

ONE kicks off with a photography competition, calling for best photographic works worldwide. These works will be in line with the theme “ONE”, an acronym of “Our Need to Express”. Competition finalists will be mentored under a professional to refine their skills and compete for the top prize.

This convention will begin on 1st April 2010 with the launch of the competition and will culminate to a series of events in October 2010 with the opening of the exhibition.

Official website. Facebook.

Transcultural Visuality: Photography in East-Asia

The session will focus on photography, as an image making procedure, which reached East-Asia close to the time of the first experimentations and its commencement in Europe, mid 19th c..

This was a unique opportunity to take part in the shaping of the field by artists across East-Asia who took interest in the newly introduced medium. In doing so, many of these practitioners added to the developing language of photography, contributing from their respective aesthetic vocabulary, drawing from particular visual cultures, adding to technical and conceptual developments of the field. Photography, therefore, developed as a truly transcultural medium, with contributions from different cultures that conglomerated and shaped the field.

Papers may explore any issues regarding photography as a transcultural medium, created between East-Asia and the West, from its early days to the present; discussions of innovative projects in Japan, Korea and China referring to hybrid traditions of representation, narratives, localities, formats, monochrome/ colour aesthetics or compositional strategies, are of great interest.
 
Please send proposals (250 words) to:
Ayelet Zohar, Stanford University transcultural.visuality[at]gmail.com
By May 3rd, 2010.

Talk about East meeting West. Sanatorium, a gallery in Turkey, is showing an exhibition on Chinese contemporary photographers, Passing China, from March 25 to April 24. This is in collaboration with Eli Klein Gallery from New York. A look at the list of artists reveal some well-travelled photographers from China – Chen Qiang, Lian Dongya, Li Wei, Liu Bolin, Maleonn, Miao Xiaochun, Pan Yue, Wang Yiqiong, Zuoxiao Zuzhou.

I think that the cross-border showing of photography, especially outside the main art centers can be quite a good primer for a region’s works. I have lost count of the number of people asking me for advice on photography coming from Asia (despite this blog’s moniker, I’m not really an expert). However, the interesting bit comes in when, after viewing the more well-known works, one finds the few gems in the rough. It can be an exhilarating experience.

Visit the gallery’s official website to read more. C-Arts Magazine has a review of the exhibition held in New York here.

TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“Qi Lihe“)
© Stephen Kelly, 2009

Stephen JB Kelly documented the lives of ethnic Muslim minorities living in Lanzhou, a city in China’s north west. The government’s treatment of the Uighurs have dominated the news in recent months. Stephen’s series comes at a right time, shedding light onto a world previously ignored by the outside world.

From his statement:

Qi Lihe is home to thousands of Muslim migrant families who have left their homeland within the Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture and arrived into the city searching for job opportunities and ultimately, a better life. For hundreds of years the Hui and Dongxiang Muslim minorities have farmed the arid land surrounding their ancestral villages. In recent years though, desertification has forced this once workable landscape to begin a dramatic change, impelling many modern day farmers and their families to seek a better existence in Lanzhou.

The work is a documentation of culture, modernization, oppression and environmental destruction all rolled into one. This is a story that has been repeated too many times in our short history. Once again, we’re reminded of the things we leave behind in the name of progress.

Visit his online portfolio to see the rest of the series.

Simple Style is an indie blog that aims to encourage and inspire the creative class. Edited by Qing Zhou and Weimar Yao from Shanghai and Guangdong respectively, it’s an excellent launchpad into the design/art/photography/music world found in China and beyond. Well, the only drawback is that it’s written in mandarin but good work translates all languages! I think I may just start collaborating with them to port some of the amazing finds over here.

Oh and they wrote an excellent post about me recently and I’m returning the favor. (A beautifully written introduction, if I may add.) :)

Blindboys.org is a new online magazine on Asian photography aimed at creating a community for a better synthesis of art, media, and Asian cultures. This is definitely a welcome addition to the scene! Besides featuring photographers on the webzine, there are also essays and critiques on the blog.