CARTOGRAPHIES OF LIGHT:
NEW PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT OF LUXUN ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS
Artists: Ao Guoxing, Feng Mengjin, He Hao, Li Yuanming, Lin Jianjiao, Liu Dawei, Liu Lihong, Sun Xiaochuan, Wang Ningde, Wang Xining, Wu Ting, Xu Dan, Xue Zhijun, Yan Shi, Yu Xingyue, Zhang Meng,
Curator: Lisa Angela Orcutt
Cartography is generally defined as the art and science of representing a geographical area, usually in the form of maps or charts. Requiring close observation, aesthetic choices, and technical skill, it is both a ‘study’ and a ‘practice,’ which although aiming to construct objective indexical representations of the world, still contains subjective aspects as embodied by terms in the field such as the persuasive map. Here, the juxtaposition of ‘light’ and ‘cartography’ as curatorial concepts is used to suggest a metaphor for the practices of the photographers featured in this exhibition. As members of the organic academic community of the Photography Department of the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, these artists also deal with photography as both a ‘study’ and ‘practice;’ their work prioritizes construction, concept, and process over documentary or unmediated lens-based image making, evidencing close observation combined with careful design, dedicated craftwork, directorial ordering of parts to the whole.
Founded in 1985, the Photography Department of the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts is the first such department to be established in a Chinese higher education art school. Thus uniquely positioned on the map of photography education in China, the Department has developed a program that seeks to ‘establish a balance between a focus on the ontological characteristics of photography, and the transmedia conceptual expression of contemporary art.’ The Department, embedded as it is within the art academy, is a porous environment allowing for a broad range of exposure to a variety of techniques, materials, processes and discourses outside of the intuitive parameters of art photography. This educational setting not only responds to the complex image environment we live in today, it also gives practitioners freedom to explore new possibilities of photographic production.
Bringing together recent works by artists at the LAFA Photography Department and alumni active in the contemporary arts scene, “Cartographies of Light” examines a cross-section of these practices of image making within the context of the contemporary art academy and its broader sphere of cultural influence, and contemplates what it means to understand, communicate, and re-imagine photographic production today.
Courtesy of artists