Like many contemporary Chinese photographers, Liang Yue’s work revolves around the rapid changes in contemporary Chinese society. Her Morse Code series is worth a look as it examines the social issue conceptually. The photographs in Morse Code were taken after a sand storm, which blanketed the entire city in a yellowish monotone. She stood at various spaces with a torch at dusk, attempting to mark and record that indefinable moment between day and evening, suggesting an imaginary, internalised twilight as a personal response to a rapidly changing environment.
From Gasworks:
Liang Yue frequently uses this kind of tension to reflect a paradoxical sense of isolation felt by young people in heavily crowded Shanghai. In a city like Shanghai, whose skyline is only easily definable in terms of its constant change, it is possible to characterise Liang Yue’s work within themes of impermanence, alienation and in-between-ness.
Morse Code 4, 5, 6, from the series ‘Several Dusks’, 2003
© Liang Yue
See more from the series here. Some of her other works can also be found here and here.
