Organizer：Three Shadows Xiamen Photography Art Centre
Curator: ZHONG Linchun
Opening: 4, May, 2019 15:00
Duration: 4 , May—5 , June, 2019
Venue: Three Shadows Xiamen Photography Art Centre (301, Building No. 2, Xinlinwan Business Center, Jimei District, Xiamen)
It is said that, one is usually measured in terms of possessions in this age. Although some places more importance on the spiritual enrichment and nourishment, undoubtedly, this is an increasingly materialistic age.
Anlan tries to introspecton all this through art. Since adolescence, she has been attempting to engage with thisworld in a gentle way . Trained as a photographer, she goes far beyond releasing the shutter. Sometimes she even jokingly called herself “a keyboard photographer”, because ready-made, performance, archivalprojects and other forms of art are all included in her art practices. All these efforts only aim at expressing her observations and reflections in a more appropriated way.
Consequently, for her, photography worksmore or less as a way of exploration and communication. Once stranded by the material, she began reading more, in especial theories of the Frankfort School. This enabled her to better comprehend the world she had seen. Inch by inch, she broke away from the original pattern of multifarious literary theories, and engaged into the society more directly like a genuine researcher.
Her focus gets more and more concentrated on the current, seeking for phenomena that only exist in this era. She said that the major difference between the past to the present is the technological development. Thus, in her work, she discusses big data and recommendation algorithms, the individual and vulnerability within the context of cyber world and late capitalism. She experiencesthe actions and emotions from the people around her, and presents her experience in the way of her work to let people to perceive and consider the possibility of this world.
She fills her work with imagination, just like playing on her own and releasing her humorous nature. Looking at her works, audience may exclaim and laugh for that straightforwardness, as she has quietly delivered her thoughts to them. She constructs a paradise within thisturbulent world. As for the attitude from the audience, she has no demand.
All of a sudden, I recollected what Andy Warhol had written in the diary just a week before his death: A really short day. Nothing much happened. I went shopping, did errands, came home, talked on the phone… Yeah, that’s all. Really. It was a short day.
Text/ZHONG Linchun
about the artist
Huang Anlan is a media artist whose primary medium is photography. Born in Guangzhou, she graduated from School of Creative Media (2018) and received her degree in Cultural and Literary Study in the University of Hong Kong (2019), now going to Parsons School of Design to pursue her passion for photography.
Anlan’s work expresses her solicitude for the society. She explores the subtle interaction between the cyber world and late capitalism, and the vulnerability being brought to individuals. She now adopts found images, found footages and other archival materials to picture a contradiction embedded in consuming behavior.