During a long photographic visit through several of China's northeastern cities, Ian Teh, a longtime member of the VU' Agency, a photographers' agency, took many pictures. His subsequent series Dark Cloud illustrates the daily lives of the people he encountered.
Wearing coarse linen suits, the subjects in the Dark Cloud series are miners who reside around China's coal production bases – places where the sky is always blanketed in a dismal gray fog. To highlight his interest in the miners, Teh zoomed in on city streets, battered factories (including their bathrooms) in order to clearly portray the simple, stark lives of these people. "With the workers it was always about understanding not just their circumstance but their feelings towards what they do. It always amazes me how well they handle themselves despite the difficulties they often face," Teh said.
Inside his pictures miners worked, talked or played billiards against a gray and dark silhouetted backdrop – murky colors wafting everywhere from smoking chimneys and workshops. Teh explained that he wanted to dig out real stories about coal and workers, two crucial factors behind China's speedy economic growth. "A working class life is more about simple pleasures. In contrast, for the wealthy, gratification is a delayed concept with the idea that by consolidating it the rewards will be greater in the future. But none of this really matters if we as a nation destroy our environment. For those concerned with simple survival, like these workers who work and live in industrial environments, this is their last priority. But for those with wealth and power, I feel that they must take responsibility to care for the land and their fellow man," Teh said.
In addition to Dark Cloud, the Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery also exhibited Merging Boundaries, another series by Teh. Christian Caujolle, a member from VU' Agency, explained that Teh is a storyteller who organically threads together images of integrative colors. He creates storylines based on real events that are alive with nuances. Teh’s sensitive and exact vision portrays his subjects with an elegant, refined, touching palette.
Exhibition Time: from April 26 to June 10, 2008
Venue: Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery II
Address: 798 Art District, No.4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
(China.org.cn by Wu Jin, May 8, 2008)
