Face to Face (171)

The ethnic diversity of China is tremendous. The faces of the people you meet in the street are as varied as those you will meet anywhere in the world. But everywhere, there are two distinct groups--the young and the old. Two Chinas. One reflects the Cultural Revolution, one the New Prosperity.

Text and photos by William Schmidt

(F) riday again!

Yes, it's last Friday's daily print! I love it so much I wanted to show it off again. Goofy? yes. Busy? yes. Able to leap small buildings in a single bound?

No.

I have another opening/reception tonight, and another one on the 25th -- more details on my site.

invited guest: Yo Imae

Subtle Perception
Seeing into darkness is clarity. - Tao Te Ching

"Perception is a key for our lives. Normally we use our five senses to communicate with other people. Communication could be described as the exchange of perception. In my photographic practice, first, I meet and talk to people face to face. This is important because of my belief that having interactions with other people is essential to approach reality and understanding, and also it is logically necessary for me to stimulate the functions of my body.






Stimulating senses of our body is something that technology could take away from our life as it advances. For example, the internet has been turning many real interactions into virtual interactions: we can do so many things through the internet without actually meeting someone in person.

However, it seems to me that people get more isolated and less susceptive partly because of this. To avoid as much as possible to become isolated and less susceptive, I as a human being and as a photographer, would like to make direct interactions on the street, and with and through the people I meet I hope to form some mutual perception.






I hope to use my basic tools as a human, everything I have inside and out, and my camera as a tool to mediate this exchange of perception, and serve as another tool for clarity. Through my camera I hope to take what I perceive as clearly as possible, and feel the value of interaction. I simply want to react to the world as far as possible, and photograph subtle perception which I think leads me to some degree of clarity.

By being on one street and taking pictures of people also on the street, I am interested in what we perceive, and the connection we make. More than individuality, or different looking people, I am interested in displaying unity. Through a simple interaction, I hope that my pictures display some commonalities that can be perceived by everyone." - Yo Imae

I am glad to have discovered the work of Yo Imae - a young photographer living in Brooklyn, New York. You will hopefully hear more from Yo in the coming weeks on The F Blog. Stay tuned.
invited by ulf fågelhammar