GUY LE QUERREC
THE CHINESE GESTURE
CURATED BY JEAN LOH
A Breton born in Paris in 1941 and a Magnum veteran for the past 42 years, Guy Le Querrec has three loves in his life—photography, his hometown and jazz. Photography is without doubt his greatest passion.
Guy Le Querrec’s most unexpected journey was to China, a voyage East accomplished in four periods (1984, 1986, 1988 and 1989). It was in 1988, when Guy Le Querrec gave a Master Class in China at the invitation of Rencontres d’Arles, that he discovered the Hui’an Maidens in Fujian Province. In 1989, he was invited to participate in the project "A Day in the Life of China". He was the only one of sixty foreign photographers to select Fujian, and he did so in order to spend more time with the extraordinary Hui'an Maidens. They are the mainstay of the exhibition, "The Chinese Gesture". In China today, people have forgotten all about the Hui'an Maidens, how they did everything while their fishermen sailed away.
The exhibition shows Guy Le Querrec's unique perspective on a transitioning China, in 70 shots of large cities (Beijing, Wuhan, Shanghai Suzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xiamen, Quanzhou) and the countryside of Fujian province.
吉•勒盖莱克，《四川新都宝光寺》，1984年4月27日。图片由艺术家/马格南图片社提供。
吉•勒盖莱克，《从泉州到崇武之间的裹强村葬礼》，福建，1989年4月13日。图片由艺术家/马格南图片社提供。
Guy Le Querrec, Hui’an women working in quarry n° 603, Friday 14 April 1989. Courtesy of the artist / Magnum
吉•勒盖莱克，《中山东路外滩上的晨练》，上海，1984年5月13日。图片由艺术家/马格南图片社提供。
吉•勒盖莱克，《早练太极和气功的动作》，北京前门-永安路，1988年11月9日。图片由艺术家/马格南图片社提供。