Tucked away in a remote corner of southern China lies the small city of Lianzhou, the unlikely but charming host of a critically acclaimed annual celebration of photography. Now in its 14th year, the Lianzhou Foto festival, founded by the Chinese photography expert Duan Yuting in collaboration with the French curator François Cheval, was created to showcase the work of contemporary Chinese artists as well as renowned international photographers.
This year’s theme, “the winds of time”, is open to broad interpretation, attracting projects on social, political and environmental themes. The work of Erwin Blumenfeld, one of the most influential and experimental fashion photographers of the 20th century, provides a historical anchor for the event, which is being held at the Lianzhou Museum of Photography, China’s first publicly funded museum of its type.
Blumenfeld worked for many of the world’s biggest fashion magazines, including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, but he was conflicted between fulfilling commissions and his own artistic aspirations. Many of the images selected for the exhibition are outtakes of his published work.
Photograph: The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld
Though known for his work in colour, Blumenfeld’s passion for black and white photography continued throughout his career. In the 60s, he composed a series of radical diptychs that featured in his acclaimed book, My One Hundred Best Photos. A selection of them adorns a wall in the museum.
Initially the curator had planned to exhibit all 100 images from the book but, as is typical in China, each photograph first had to be assessed by government censors and many were forbidden to be shown. This is a difficult issue for the festival director to negotiate with international artists. “All exhibiting artists are subject to an approval process, and since 2016, the rules have been more strictly applied,” Duan said. “There is no issue with the majority of the work – and certainly improved communication with officials helps the process – but censorship is just something we have to accept.”
The work of the Dutch photographer Henk Wildschut was among those subjected to a heavy “edit” on the eve of the festival’s launch. His Netherlands-based environmental project explores the impact of food production, a subject pertinent to China and other countries with a large population.
Wildschut said he was baffled as to why some of the photographs had been censored: “They seem to have removed images at random – either that or the series has been misunderstood.”
In contrast, the project No Place to Place, by Wu Guoyong, was supported by the authorities. The Chinese photographer was granted unique access to gather drone footage of the country’s bicycle cemeteries, the aftermath of a green scheme gone wrong.
The bicycle-sharing initiative became so popular in China that in just two years more than 27m bikes flooded the streets, with customers charged just pennies for a 30-minute ride. However, the project’s rapid expansion outstripped demand. Riders would park anywhere or simply abandon the bikes on pavements and in apartment entrances. Eventually, the authorities were forced to step in and moved the millions of dockless bikes to vast storage areas known as bicycle cemeteries. From a drone’s-eye view, these piles of colourful vehicles resemble flower fields.
Displayed at scale for maximum impact, Wu’s pictures offer staggering views of bicycle graveyards in 20 cities. The project includes footage of workers disassembling the bikes and highlights the catastrophic amount of waste the scheme created.
Environmental awareness is a recurring theme in the festival, with issues of climate change and urbanisation at the fore. The Chinese photographer Peng Ke took an analogue approach to her project, Leaving Speed, by focusing on the childlike aesthetic of public spaces and paying particular attention to colour.
Peng is an emerging talent in the world of conceptual photography and she has a keen interest in the human experience in our ever-changing cities. She is also an example of the type of local talent the festival seeks to promote. “We want to build a huge platform to improve and show Chinese contemporary photography,” said Duan, who said her proudest moment was the opening of the Lianzhou Photography Museum, which was the realisation of a long-held dream.
The museum is sensitively designed, constructed from historically authentic materials to blend into the locality. With its expansive courtyards and winding walkways, the architecturally striking museum invites local people to take part in educational events long after the throngs of festivalgoers have disappeared. Duan hopes to expand the museum’s archive of Chinese photography while helping to develop the local talent. This year’s festival shows the future of photography is in good hands.
