Official opening: Monday 7 May, 6pm, with guest speaker John McDonald, art critic for Sydney Morning Herald and film critic for Australian Financial Review
Artist talk: Saturday 12 May, 3pm, by Sheila Zhao
Exhibition dates: 5 – 27 May
In collaboration with Head On Photo Festival, Delmar Gallery presents the following exhibitions by three photographers based in China.
Peng Xiangjie
Cosplay (Second Dimension)
Chinese photographer Peng Xiangjie travelled to cities across China to document a widespread, subcultural phenomenon amongst younger generations: cosplay festivals. In his series of portraits of festival participants, he finds a ‘second dimension’ opening up between the fictional and the real. In a society that does not fully accept gender fluidity and diverse sexualities, cosplay creates a space where these identities can be expressed and explored.
Supported by White Rabbit.
Sheila Zhao
The East Was Red
Chinese-American photographer Sheila Zhao examines how political narratives can affect a nation’s collective consciousness, as seen through the lens of found photographs from China’s Cultural Revolution. The East Was Red considers how politics of the time impacted on the way the Chinese populace chose to represent themselves – and ultimately changed the photographic history of China.
Olivia Martin-McGuire
China Love
China’s rapidly growing wedding industry is worth over 80 billion dollars. Australian photographer Olivia Martin-McGuire has documented one of the industry’s most curious parts: the pre-wedding photo shoot. Up to a year before the wedding, every couple participates in elaborate shoots complete with fantasy costumes and backdrops. Not only are they proof of the forthcoming marriage, but proof of the new era of love, romance, freedom, money and the new China dream.
