My portrait from Sound Kapital of Subs lead guitarist, Wuhao/吴昊, appeared on the cover of Courrier International. If you buy the magazine and speak French, please translate the article for me. The Subs are AWESOME. They are one of the first bands I saw when I returned to Beijing in 2007. Expect some big features next week, including photos in The New Yorker and Time Magazine.
Thanks to my new friend Alex Chao, who just arrived in Beijing to take over art direction at China Vogue, I was able to contribute for the first time to China Vogue this month. It was also a perfect match since the magazine was running a big music issue and decided to let me cue up on some of the old school rockers in China including Cui Jian/崔健 (the godfather of Chinese rock), Shen Lihui/沈黎辉 (general rocker and founder of Modern Sky) and Zhang Youdai/张有待 (the DJ who introduced rock to the masses). First of all, I was very excited to get a chance to shoot Cui Jian on the D-22 red wall. He really is a pillar in the history of Chinese rock and greatly influenced a whole generation of China with his anthem “Nothing to My Name” which became a rallying song for students in China during the 1980s. Although I might not be the biggest fan of some of Shen Lihui’s music, his importance as the founder of the Modern Sky music label and festival production company is undisputed. When other record companies refused to release his music in 1997, he went his own way and founded Modern Sky to support a new generation of Chinese rockers and then continued to take this music to larger audiences with the Modern Sky Music Festival and Strawberry Music Festival. Shen Lihui will undoubtably be a force in the future of alternative music in China for some time to come. Although I had never heard of Zhang Youdai before, he seems to be an instrumental character in the history of rock in China as well. He became a DJ and host on Beijing Music Radio back in 1993 and introduced a wide range of music to youth across China. He is a true shaker in China’s emerging entertainment market and is rocking out to an Eric Clapton LP in the China Vogue portrait. Mad respect.
As many of you may know, I am a huge fan of the CCTV Tower in Beijing’s Central Business District. In my excitement that they finally turned on the lights in the soaring loop of a skyscraper, I scouted out locations and posted shots of it igniting the skyline. A few months later, as fortune would have it, I received an assignment to photograph Ole Scheeren, the former parter of Rem Koolhaas at OMA and mastermind behind the design and construction of the CCTV Tower. Basically I got to sneak around the new offices of Ole Scheeren in Jianwai Soho and then pose him in front of his awesome edifice. In the end, I used the same locations from the night shoot to photograph Ole Scheeren with the CCTV Tower. Unfortunately I was not allowed to photograph any models of his upcoming projects which were amazing. Ole himself was very affable during the shoot and is no stranger to the camera thanks to his high-profile, paparazzi-trailed relationship with actress Maggie Cheung. A looker and dresser, Ole made sure he was properly attired for the occasion and rocked a formidable Blue Steel. The clippings are from the article in the newly minted Port Magazine out of London.
I published another photograph in Time Magazine this week. Apparently it can be found in the international version and some of the domestic ones as well. They used a photo from my recent series New South China Mall: The Empty Temple of Consumerism for a China investment story entitled China Dreams. I also took some portraits for Time Magazine in Guangzhou last month for a story that should be published in the near future (can’t talk about it yet). However, the rebellion in Libya and disasters in Japan are consuming most news outlets right now and a lot of scheduled features are being pushed back. It was great working with the editors at Time Magazine. Hopefully more of my work will be in print soon.
Two of my photo essays have been in wide circulation recently. Chongqing: The Biggest City You’ve Never Heard Of, after its initial release in Foreign Policy, went on to be published in Internazional, Foreign Policy Spain and Foreign Policy Arabic as pictured above. Happy Magic Water Park, one of my favorite photo essays from last year, also showed up in Geo France, Afar and D Magazine as pictured below. I have some new work coming out very soon, so stay tuned.
I should have blogged about this last month, but I only just received a PDF of the New York Times print version of my work on the explosion of music festivals across China. Such an article was a long time coming and received the usual criticisms aimed at mainstream media coverage of the alternative music scene in China from industry watchers such as China Music Radar and Beijing Daze. Obviously it was too short to cover all the historical and social nuances bound up with proliferation of music festivals across China. Unfortunately the New York Times rarely publishes extended think pieces that such a subject deserves. I actually read a longer version of Andrew Jacob’s first draft which was much better, but the editors decided to cut it down as they are wont to do in this day and age – apparently they feel readers can’t last more than a thousand words in a row. Still, I was really happy with the article and thought Andrew did a quality job trying to introduce the China music festival scene to the rest of the world with his insightful descriptions and awesome quotes. My favorite came from Zhang Fan of MIDI fame, “The government used to see rock fans as something akin to a devastating flood or an invasion of savage beasts, now we’re all part of the nation’s quest for a harmonious society.” Some of the other issues Andrew addresses such as the paradox of having government-backed festivals filled with subversive bands as well as the rising commercialism of the entire alternative music scene also needed to be laid out. Yang Haisong, of P.K. 14 fame, really nailed it on the head with his closing comment, “The government used to see us as dangerous, now they see us as a market.” I feel an approach employed by the Chinese state where they try to appropriate cultural scenes rather than empower them through censorship is becoming the norm. It is happening in the contemporary art scene in Beijing’s 798 art district and more and more with bands taking on corporate sponsorships and other branding opportunities. When the artists and musicians are making more money, they have less to complain about and more at risk by creating controversial or outspoken material. It is a savvy step forward by the Chinese state and goes hand in hand with their other attempts to spin media rather than quash it. The Beijing Daze post gets into this quite a bit as well. Still, no matter what, I am a huge fan of the spread of music festivals in China. The only thing that is needed right now is quality production and more bands. The same performers can’t keep recycling through the festivals. A large injection of new musical blood is needed. Hopefully there are more diamonds in the rough amongst all the second-tier cities around China who are just opening up their ears to the latest sounds coming out of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan. Otherwise there are still too many reports of badly planned festivals with no toilets and crappy sound systems. Check out these critiques by Helen Feng, Pity the Cool, and Beijing Today. Hopefully we are just experiencing the birthing pains of the China music festival circuit. Also check out this great extended piece on the first musical festival in Nanjing and an extended interview with Scarlett Li, the brains behind the Zebra Festival movement. Unfortunately there is no online slideshow in addition to the video I produced for the New York Times website, so I attached my favorite shots to this post.
