Chinese contemporary photography has witnessed fast development and drawn extensive interest worldwide in recent years, emerging as an important art expression for the study of the evolution of Chinese contemporary art.

Chinese contemporary photography develops in the context of tremendous social transformation over the past three decades. China’s social structure and cultural identity have been reshaped as the result of the social reform that has been taking place throughout the whole country. Meanwhile, approaches and attitudes with which Chinese artists observe the world and realities have also changed along with the time. They have begun to make photographic creations as ways to observe, understand and demonstrate China.

Chinese contemporary artists show deep concerns over social realities of China and have tried many innovative ways to express their art concepts. Their goals in image creations and practices, from the very beginning, are fundamentally different from what traditional photography pursues, that is, authenticity in camera image and purity in photographic language. Instead, they use photography as a kind of media or an instrument of conceptual experiment to reflect their ideas, concepts and positions. From these photographic works on display, we can learn about Chinese artists’ pursuits of values and attitudes toward art over the past decades. They attempt to, from multi perspectives, record China’s opening and transition process, her historical and cultural traditions and her development in the new era. They do not merely chronicle China on film, but more importantly, imagine and create a realistic China with a spirit of individuality and an independent perspective as an artist. While expressing their individual concepts, they try to analyze and de-structure Chinese history and culture in the context of globalization. These image works epitomize visual witnesses of urbanized expansion movement, individual experiences of turbulence of social mentality, reflections on the significance of the existence of art, and digital art experiments on expanding potential of photographic expression.

Because of all those, Chinese contemporary photography has emerged as one of the most dynamic and creative forms of art expression, fully demonstrating artists’ abilities to learn, create and reflect. What they have created and pursued represents what the contemporary society seeks from values and meanings of art. In the context that China is developing rapidly and becomes increasingly globalized and internationalized, image artists have caught pulses of the time and present a new panorama of the image era. Art provides us possibilities to approach the truth of reality and understand complexity and diversity of Chinese realities, while reflecting tremendous changes that China is faced with. The exhibition “Remaking Our Vision” offers viewers an excellent opportunity to experience interactions of diversified cultures and arts and approach a creative China.

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