The Yellow River

Zhang Kechun
The Yellow River

Photographs: Zhang Kechun

Publisher: ThreeShadows + 3 Gallery

96 pages

Year: 2014

Comments: Softcover, 21 x 14cm, color photographs. First edition. In very good condition, other than a light scratch on the bottom right edge of the cover.

This book was published at the occasion of Zhang Kechun Photography's solo exhibition “The Yellow River” at Three Shadows +3 Gallery in Beijing. “Guo Guo” is the pronounceation of the Chinese title, which is a onomatopoeia originated from “The Book of Odes”, describing the sound of the Yellow River. Inspired by Zhang Chengzhi’s Rivers of the North, Zhang Kechun photographed the portraits of Yellow River landscapes and selected 50 prints for collection of the series. These are beyond the ordinary travel photographs or social documentary, but a longly pilgrimate journey of the artist in the name of passion, curiosity and exploration.

Completed between 2010 to 2013, these pictures captured by photographer Zhang Kechun have a common stage, the Yellow River. From 2010 to 2013, he walked more than ten times upstream westward from Kenli County, Dongying City, Shandong where the estuary of the River was, through Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu and Sichuan, heading to the River’s source near the Bayan Har Mountain in Qinghai. Zheng Kechun photographed objects in long distance on purposes, uses the tiny lens to create a dialogue with vast northwestern ground, accordingly we see massive smoky grey, pale yellow and grayish green in the background that go against the ants-like people, the composition further brings out a sense of absurdity in the image. Just like Ou Ning precisely comments “In his pictures you can witness the important plan like Western Development, the HSRs were built over the Yellow River followed by booming travel business, industry restructuring, excessive urbanization and finally, environmental destruction. Not only the lifestyle of the riverside persons has changed, but their hearts and beliefs. However, these were just momentary sprays in the long history of the River.”

Zhang Kechun was born in 1980, Sichun, currently works and lives in Chengdu. He has participated in many solo and group exhibitions at domestic and international contemporary art institutions, including: ThreeShadows +3 Gallery (Beijing), Gallery HO(New York), The 4th edition of PHOTOQUAI world photography biennale (France),1st Beijing Photo Biennial (Beijing), The 6rd L'Iris d'Or Award Exhibition (UK), The 5rd Dali International Photography Biennale (Yunnan), The 6rd LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph (USA), Crossover:The 2013 Three Shadows Photography Award Exhibition (Beijing) and so on. He is also the Winner of National Geographic Picks Global in 2008.

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