Taranaki touch to exhibition
By FELICITY ROOKES - Taranaki Daily News
Mangled, rusted beams, broken concrete and charred remains are the subject of Chinese photographer Jin Jiangbo's camera.
He is the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery's latest international artist in residence and he has chosen the destroyed Patea freezing works as his latest project.
July 4 marks the beginning of the gallery's year-long series, China in Four Seasons, with Mr Jin's penetrating photos depicting not only pieces of Taranaki history but China's as well.
The project comprises four exhibitions and residencies.
Mr Jin is in Taranaki for the next three weeks, working on his exhibition, which focuses on China's economic affliction.
His panoramas feature the industrial ruins of factories in Dongguan, Southern China, empty production workshops and the deserted dormitories of factories.
"During the last 30 years foreign investors were pouring money into China and then things got tough and they began pulling out," Mr Jin explains through a translator.
"The work shows the social situation in China over that time."
Mr Jin describes the buildings as witnesses to history.
There are three parts to the series, Economic Retreat, which features photos of abandoned buildings after investors took off when the economy began to decline, Chinese Market Scene, depicting local business owners, and Shanghai, Shanghai, documenting the massive construction and urban revival of the city thanks to a government boost of more than $163 billion in the lead-up to the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
While the Patea site is the only rise to ruins subject Mr Jin is taking on during his time in the region, he says it is enough.
"The site has a long economic history and is of a large scale," he said.
"It shows the cruelty of democracy where investors pour in money and it is doing well and then hits a bad economic situation. It is similar to what China has gone through.
"It is of historical value."
Mr Jin does not use a digital camera but uses film with a camera capable of capturing wide angles.
While at the old freezing works this week, he took 10 photographs and expects to exhibit up to eight.
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