Output details

A Decade Long Exposure

By reviewing the growth of photography at Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), the leading art institution in China, and the most recent development of Chinese contemporary practice, this project aims to critically examine the significance of photography in the unprecedented era of social, ideological and cultural changes in China, the role of photography in Chinese art education, particularly, through the transformation from traditional practice to contemporary art.

A substantial review in both Chinese and English literature was carried out to set out the structure of the book publication and the curatorial framework of the exhibition. In-depth interview and curatorial fieldwork are considered essential in this research project. Interviewees were carefully selected in the fields of photography practice, theory and art education, and 12 important interviews are fully transcribed and documented for future research reference. An extensive curatorial research was conducted to select artists for the exhibitions, and to discuss their artistic development in response to the dramatic changes during the rapid urbanisation. This project is the first examination on Chinese contemporary photography in the context of art education with a unique sample of the first decade development of photography at CAFA, and reflects on the latest photographic practice in China.

The researcher had received significant external funding to realise this project, including support from CAFA (£40,000), Kodak (£6,000), Elinchrom (£10,000) and Canon (£10,000). The book was published in Chinese with an English introduction and has become a key reference book on Chinese contemporary photography. In addition, as outcomes of the research project, two group exhibitions, namely, Beyond Memory: Contemporary Photography in China and I Change Therefore I Am: Young Photographers from CAFA, presented 34 established as well as emerging artists at the prestigious institutional space, CAFA Art Museum.