Hu Yang
Hu Yang’s extensive photographic publication “Shanghai Living” documents the living spaces of 500 families living in today’s Shanghai. A selection of 100 of the images were first displayed at ShanghART Gallery and caused unforeseen public attention due to their rare and particular presentation of intimate and protected private spaces.

The featured photographs take on an anthropological and sociological approach that attempts to describe the dramatic changes of domestic living that occurred following the process of modernization and the Open Door policy. The photographs work as cultural documents as well as aesthetic objects that give us an almost voyeuristic view into a group of diverse private spheres ranging from migrant worker’s dwellings to the domiciles of foreign diplomats and successful business people. The photographs are contextualized with captions that quote inhabitants from conversations with the photographer prior to the shoot. In these conversations, Hu Yang focuses on the same three elemental questions: How is your life situation now? What is your hope/wish? Finally, what is your biggest pain/trouble?

The “Shanghai Living” series works almost as an archive: all subjects and interiors, whether wealthy or impoverished, are equally treated. One might naturally question the objectivity, authenticity and honesty of the documentary photos. As with any other visual art form, the intentions and stylistic strategies are, ultimately, always a subjective choice made by the photographer. Nevertheless, these intimate portraits do not come across as staged settings, and unlike exterior views of the city, they are spaces that are otherwise closed to the public. Finally, it is up to the spectator to manage and interpret these contemporary iconographies of modern Shanghai living spaces.

Hu Yang’s recent exhibitions include China Contemporary, Art, Architecture and Visual Culture, Photomuseum (Rotterdam, 2006), Sixth International Photography Month in Moscow: Photobiennale 2006, Moscow House of Photography, Shifting Views: Chinese Urban Documentary Photography, Michigan University (2005), Re(-)viewing the City (2005), Guangzhou Photo Biennale, Guangdong Art Museum (2005) and Hu Yang, Shanghai Living, ShanghART Gallery, H-Space (2005).