Winter on the Yellow River Embankment, 1963, Henan.
Photo by Zhu Xianmin.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
Song Fu, Li Han, YuewenNot long ago, Zhu Xianmin, the most influential contemporary Chinese photographer and the founder and pioneer of Chinese documentary photography, opened his solo photography exhibition "The People of the Yellow River: A Retrospective of Zhu Xianmin's Photography in 60 Years (1963-2023)" at the National Art Museum of China. More than 160 paintings** selected in this exhibition show the life of the people in the Yellow River Basin from the four units of "wind, soil, people, and home", interpreting the changes in the life philosophy and spiritual outlook of ordinary Chinese people in the past 60 years, and constituting a "picture history of Chinese people's livelihood".
On December 5th, the closing day of the exhibition, the 3rd and 5th exhibition halls of the National Art Museum of China welcomed many visitors early in the morning, who stopped and lingered in front of the works, carefully savored every detail in the painting, and exchanged exclusive memories of being evoked by each other. After more than 160 photographic works, it is like experiencing the magnificent time of Yijiazi, the changes of the times are vivid, and after the big waves and sands, photography leaves the people of the Yellow River with a tenacious, simple and optimistic spirit for today's viewers.
In 1943, Zhu Xianmin was born in an ordinary peasant family in Pucheng, Shandong Province (now Fan County), and left his hometown at the age of 17. Speaking of the theme of "The People of the Yellow River", he said: "Feelings have prompted me to have this consciousness and idea - to trace the scenes of my childhood life and choose the land and people I am most familiar with. In my memory, the common people there were hardworking, kind, and simple, silently contributing to the country and the nation. I want to record the life and labor scenes of the peasants in the land where I was born, so that more people can understand the people of the Yellow River in the Central Plains. Wang Meng, the former president of the Chinese Academy of Arts and a famous writer, concluded that Zhu Xian's civil photography has created an art that is "moving, moving, and emotional", and people can "find themselves" in these indisputable epic images of civilians.
Since his first photographic work "Winter on the Yellow River Embankment" in 1963, Zhu Xianmin's creative anchor point is the people of his hometown. Since the 1980s, he has shifted from photographing his hometown to the wider Yellow River Basin. From the Tibetan people in the upper reaches of the Yellow River to the Shandong region at the mouth of the Yellow River, Zhu Xianmin's photographic footprints span the whole of China, and from his works, we can see the simple customs of ordinary people's daily weddings and funerals, as well as the scenes of daily life of labor and rest. Among them, "The Yellow River Crossing", taken in 1980, is perhaps the most familiar to the audience, and it also brings the strongest visual impact to the audience. In the picture, dozens of farmers are riding wooden boats, rocking along the water of the Yellow River, and the oars of the oars are flooded with the clear and distinct water of the Yellow River. Taken as a whole, it is a collective portrait of a Chinese peasant, a moment in countless everyday lives. But if you look closely, the expressions of each of them are very detailed and worth revisiting, some seem to be contemplating, others are smiling, and some are talking to their companions. In this work, the camera does not stop at the faces of the characters, but captures the spiritual and spiritual existence of the people of the Yellow River, and records the unique living conditions of the people at that time.
Yellow River Crossing, 1980, Shandong.
Photo by Zhu Xianmin.
In addition to the overall life scenes of the characters, Zhu Xianmin is also good at depicting people's daily interactions, capturing "decisive moments" with the lens, so that the viewer can see a story happening in his works, even a kind of coincidence that cannot be designed. Also filmed in 1980 in "Three Generations", the three grandparents and grandchildren who were filmed have a distinct age gap, obviously from three different eras, and the emotions on their faces are subtly different, but they all show a greater consistency, a sense of roughness shared by the people of the Yellow River. Another example is "Lunar New Year" taken in 2010, in which several young people walk in front of the house with New Year's goods, in which the movements of the characters and the distance between each other are as precise as calculated, and the tension between the old and new eras composed of the characters in the foreground and the houses in the background reflects the folk customs that have survived in the great changes of the times, and are still a strong bond of family affection between people. Li Nan, a well-known curator, believes that Zhu Xianmin's images of the Yellow River do not stop at depicting the simplicity of the people, but interpret the spiritual temperament of the grassroots people from multiple levels: "The People of the Yellow River has a richer layer: it is neither entirely an oriental blend and harmony, nor a completely Western-style contradiction and antagonism. Rather, it presents the contradictory situation of the characters in the form of photography, and at the same time, uses the character's own spiritual temperament to endow the image with more than the power of contradiction and conflict. ”
Regarding documentary photography, the philosopher Chen Jiaying once said: "Documentary, of course, is not a copy of reality - there has never been such a thing as copying reality." Documentary photographers show their understanding of reality, their understanding of history, and their own hearts and minds through documentary techniquesJust like true art photography, it shows the reality of the world and the mind through artistic techniques. These ** in front of us are not only a record of history, but also a unique understanding of reality. Zhu Xianmin's photography is the same, he insists that documentary photography is "shoot today, see tomorrow", so the hard work and emotions poured into the works have a strong imprint of the times and private feelings, with his unique sense of being in the wave of change of the times, leaving enough memories of the real years for today's **. After 60 years of creative career, in the face of Bresson's words: "The eye of truth is always towards life." Zhu Xianmin concluded that documentary photography should be responsible to the society, and the truth of photography art is to shoot with the heart, to understand and grasp the love and family affection that exists between people.
Interviews
Only shoot "85% of the people".
Economic Observer: Why do you insist on photographing the mental outlook of ordinary people, and what attracts you to it?
Zhu Xianmin:Because I'm engaged in documentary photography, documentary photography has a function of recording the changes of the times. The changes of the times here do not refer to the construction of a few buildings or roads in the city, but to the changes in people and the changes in people's life concepts, which is the most important thing. My life's wish is to record the things I have experienced and the various stages of historical change I have experienced with images, so that future generations can truly understand and see the true face of that era.
Economic Observer: You are also capturing the things that have not changed in the changing times, and there are some things that are always there and can always be seen in people.
Zhu Xianmin:What can always be captured is the human spirit, but people's living environment and life Xi habits have completely changed, and the means of production, transportation, and spiritual outlook are all changing.
The Economic Observer: After 2000, you still continued to shoot in the 2010s, what kind of people are you focusing on now?
Zhu Xianmin:Because the times have changed a lot, young people from the countryside have come to the city to work, and now I pay attention to the young migrant workers in the city and their living conditions.
Economic Observer: Do you observe anything special about the living conditions of these young people, which are different from the people you photographed before?
Zhu Xianmin:Today's young people are not so "relaxed", most of them are more nervous, busy, and have the spirit of struggle. Compared to the faces of those who used to be, they were completely two expressions. In addition to the megacities of Shenzhen and Shanghai, the lives of some young people who go to work in Zhengzhou and Jinan must be very special, and I want to photograph the lives of these young people.
Economic Observer: You have also photographed some young people in the Pearl River Delta region who have gone to work in the cities after the reform and opening up.
Zhu Xianmin:I have photographed the changes in the Pearl River Delta in the past 50 years, because the Pearl River Delta is a model area of reform and opening up, and Shenzhen is a pilot of China's reform and opening up, so I focused on the Pearl River Delta and photographed a lot in Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and other places. I started shooting in 1973, when the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone had not yet been established, so I first photographed some rural areas.
Outside the Dormitory of Migrant Girls", 1985, Shenzhen.
Photo by Zhu Xianmin.
Economic Observer: The distance between these people in the Yellow River Basin and the people in the Pearl River Delta is differentAnd they are also shooting the Yellow River Basin, and the sense of distance between you shooting Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi is different from that of ethnic minorities in Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and other regions, and you can feel that when you shoot the Yellow River Basin, the emotional distance is closer.
Zhu Xianmin:Yes, because the Central Plains of the Yellow River is where I was born, the feelings are different. I photograph the Pearl River Delta from a documentary perspective, to record the changes of that era. Photographing the people of the Yellow River and the Central Plains region is closer to my life, which is a kind of family affection. I've also photographed abroad, the United States, Japan, France, and many other countries, but the emotions are different. It's the same for foreigners to shoot China, if it's not their own nation and country, their emotions are different. At that time, foreign countries were relatively advanced and developed, and we were relatively backward at that time, which was reflected in photography, and the point of view was different.
Economic Observer: In the past 60 years, you have used photography to record the changes of the times, have you formed some unique methods or experiences?
Zhu Xianmin:I think documentary photography is "shoot today, watch tomorrow", it is to be taken for future generations to see, there is a precipitation time. Documentary photography must be real, unlike news photography, which is to record a sudden event, documentary photography is to shoot the living conditions of ordinary people, and it must shoot the 85% of ordinary people. I don't shoot individual people, if I choose individual people, there are very poor people, there are very rich people, these are two extremes. But I don't shoot the two extremes, I only shoot the real life of 85% of the population, because 85% of the people live like this, and this kind of documentary photography is more real and valuable. Therefore, this exhibition is not divided by chronology, and it is impossible to see the changes of the times, but if we divide them by chronology, we will see great changes (in the living conditions of ordinary people) every five or ten years.
Today, we still need to think about the meaning of photography
Economic Observer: From the beginning of your photography creation to today, photography technology has undergone tremendous changes, from film to SLR and digital cameras, and now shooting with mobile phones, how do you see the change of photography technology as a creator?
Zhu Xianmin:I don't believe in film, I don't believe in digital, I think in the end [the audience] is looking at the image. Just like looking at a good painting, it doesn't matter what pen or paper the artist uses to create it, what matters is whether your work has value or not. A lot of people will go after the technology, such as the sharpness of the lens and so on – of course, these must be basic – but don't go overboard, because at the end of the day, the viewer will look at your image and won't ask what camera you used to shoot it. Especially now, because today's photography itself is a kind of productivity, it serves the economy, tourism and other fields, whether it is documentary photography or landscape photography, it is a way to record the world, and it has its space for development.
But we still need to think about one question, that is, the value of photography itself. Any art form, such as fine arts, dance, film, and opera, has its own value and function, so what is the function of photography?First of all, we have to think about this question.
Economic Observer: Many of the ** you shoot are also very design-oriented in terms of picture composition, but you also emphasize that photography itself is to capture the moment you want to shoot, is there a contradiction between the two?For example, in the work of "Chinese New Year" you shot, there are five people holding New Year's goods from the front of the bungalow, everyone's posture is very harmonious, and even the distance between people is about the same, the perception is very ingenious, how did you design such a **?
Zhu Xianmin:You can look at it from several aspects, one is the house in the house and the slogan on the house, this is an old house in the countryside, but the clothes worn by people on the ** are the clothes of the new era, and these elements constitute a kind of tension. To shoot this scene, you have to wait in front of the bungalow, wait for these people to walk by, and choose the most suitable moment to capture it. At that time, because it was going to be the New Year, there were people coming and going, and there happened to be a few young people holding New Year's goods walking by, and I felt that this scene was worth filming, so I waited for the best moment.
Chinese New Year", Shaanxi, 2010.
Photo by Zhu Xianmin.
Economic Observer: That is, you notice that a very interesting story is about to happen in this scene, so you wait to capture that key moment.
Zhu Xianmin:Yes, if you find something interesting about to happen and it's worth photographing, you should wait for your most satisfying expression and moment, rather than the best moment all at once. So you have to hide and wait for the best moment of shooting. But sometimes, the moment passes, and there is no more, and I regret not pressing the shutter at that time. This moment needs to wait, but maybe you can wait, maybe you can't, maybe the moment you waited for is not as good as the other moments you just didn't capture, and that's a pity.
The truth of photography is to "shoot with your heart".
The Economic Observer: The characters in your work have a sense of story, giving the impression that something very interesting is happening in them at the moment.
Zhu Xianmin:This is one of the purposes of my creation, and it is also a kind of pursuit of my shooting. I want every image to make people feel a reflection and a reaction, so I pay attention to the communication between people. A good ** has to make people have a kind of whirlwind thinking, for example, the parents photographed in the ** are short, in that era, there is indeed a deep friendship between neighbors, which can be reflected in **, but today the neighbors are indifferent, I hope that my ** can make today's people recall the relationship and friendship between neighbors at that time.
The Economic Observer: Because characters are often in a kind of dynamic, how do you capture a moment of storytelling from the dynamics?Including the subject you are facing, if there is a lack of acceptance of the camera, how do you deal with this situation?
Zhu Xianmin:The difficulty of photography lies in the control of this moment, what expression do you want to show the other person, and how do you deal with the background content?I summarize the creation of this life, how many good can I touch?Not much, because it's too hard. In order to capture that moment, I used a telephoto lens from the beginning, hiding the lens so that it didn't interfere with them, waiting to capture the moment I needed to capture people's expressions. Photography looks very simple, but in fact it is difficult, a group of people like the sea, which part of the lens should be aimed at?For example, when I filmed "Three Generations", there were many people in the scene at that time, why did I focus on these three people?That's the hard part of photography.
Three Generations, Henan, 1980.
Photo by Zhu Xianmin.
Economic Observer: In what scene was the photo of "Three Generations" taken?
Zhu Xianmin:It's the village that's having a meeting. I knew because I was satisfied with the shoot and I asked them. Now when you shoot on the streets of the city, it's hard to have this opportunity to ask him, what do you do?At that time, this condition was still available in the countryside.
The Economic Observer: This important moment reminds me of the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who wrote to you: "The eye of truth is always towards life." He also put forward the concept of the famous "decisive moment" in photography, what do you think of this concept, and how do you understand the "truth" of photography?
Zhu Xianmin:Bresson is a world-class master of photography, and he is also the object of my admiration and Xi study, but I know from the beginning of my creation that I must not repeat his path, and must have my own unique pursuit, a style. Bresson's work rarely photographs human communication, which I myself pay attention to.
Actually, what is art?Art is love and beauty, and there is no art without love. The truth of photography is that we must shoot with our hearts, be real, and be responsible for this society.