Changing China: photo show focuses on impact of Wenzhou’s economic success story
A striking collection of images, exhibited at the 2017 Lishui International Photography Festival in Zhejiang province, shines light on those affected by unrelenting progress
For three days, attendees of the Lishui Photography Festival have been shepherded from gallery to workshop to seminar. The itinerary has been packed with talks, banquets and trips to the surrounding countryside.
In my free time, I have lost myself in the old winding streets of this small city in the south of Zhejiang province, ambling between galleries, museums and public installations, seeking out beacons of artistic excellence in a sea of mediocrity.
Like many grand gatherings of this calibre in China, the event has been choreographed into an assembly line of meet-ups. Festivities started with a variety show-style opening gala and will conclude with an award ceremony, replete with a spiffy host accompanied by dolled-up female assistants.
The days in between are bursting with activity as photography connoisseurs queue alongside curious locals and students to digest the more than 5,000 works on show.
On the hazy morning after prizes have been dished out, some artists are boxing up their photographs as I stroll through the oil-pumping facility – a Mao-era factory that has been repurposed as a gallery for the festival.
I’ve found most of the more intriguing work here, in tree-shrouded hills away from the glitzy new museums of the city proper. In one of the factory’s back rooms, I chance upon a collection of potent images.