November 28, 2014
Dai Xiang uses the framework of the Song dynasty painting
Courtesy of Dai Xiang
Dai Xiang uses the framework of the Song dynasty painting “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” to highlight recent events in China. One scene depicts a young man, the son of a senior police official who was involved in a hit-and-run accident in 2010, shouting, “My father is Li Gang.”
For a visual survey of recent headline-grabbing events in China, look no further than the latest photographic project by the artist Dai Xiang, inspired by the 12th-century scroll painting “Along the River During the Qingming Festival.”
Mr. Dai borrows the visual and conceptual framework of that painting — not to mention its title — to produce a patchwork of meticulous vignettes of everyday Chinese society. But in a bid to channel the spirit of the times, he swaps out the sentimental depictions of urban life in the Song dynasty for scenes that are far more familiar to modern-day residents of Chinese cities: chengguan, or urban management officials, bullying local vendors; rapacious real estate developers mapping out plans to forcibly evict residents; government officials in dark suits on inspection tours; propaganda banners; crackdowns on prostitution; and snap-happy Chinese tourists wielding cameras.
“I’ve always wanted to make a scroll that depicts a slice of Chinese contemporary society in a way that combines traditional and contemporary methods,” said Mr. Dai, who unveiled the work last week at the Lianzhou International Photo Festival, in the southern province of Guangdong. “The vibrancy of real life is the source of inspiration for my creativity.”
Mr. Dai said he chose for the piece events that were representative and involved different levels of society. The project took about three years to complete, he said, during which he shot about one terabyte of images and processed almost 10,000 composite layers for the final photo. Most of the costumes and stage props for the nearly 1,000 characters depicted in the tableau he made himself or rented. (He also stepped in to play about 90 of the characters.)
The finished work, which is 82 feet long and about 3.5 feet high, contains more than 30 different scenes. Some show common features of Chinese society today: high real estate prices, disgruntled hospital patients and black Audis.
Others refer to specific news events, such as an episode in 2009 in which three university students died while trying to save two drowning children. Reports that fishermen on a nearby boat demanded 12,000 renminbi, or almost $2,000, to hand over each student’s body prompted outrage among many Chinese.Another scene depicts the son of a senior police officer in Hebei Province who tried to flee the scene of a fatal car crash in 2010 and evade responsibility by shouting to an angry crowd: “Sue me if you dare. My father is Li Gang!”
