“This exhibit met an existing community desire–to better understand this crucial moment in China’s history and how artists have played a role in representing it.”
—Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota

Seven contemporary photographers reveal a nation that has been, until now, largely hidden from Western view. The country is rapidly changing. Today’s China is increasingly international, urban, and open. As millions of rural workers surge into the cities, metropolitan centers cope with the needs of their new occupants, straddled between an adherence to traditional ways of life and the desire for viable work.

Originally presented by Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine, and curated by Gu Zheng of Shanghai’s Fudan University, Documenting China: Contemporary Photography and Social Change takes viewers to ultra-modern hotspots such as Shanghai and Beijing, replete with futuristic skyscrapers and hip cafes. But the exhibition also presents a more complete view of China, transporting us to the countryside just after the death of communist leader Mao Zedong and to the gritty industrial fields of Henan and Heilongjiang Provinces.

More than 50 black-and-white photographs, interspersed with an array of colorful, oversized images, record the monumental changes that have created a new class of citizens and forever altered the social and economic climate of China.

This exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of Crystal Cruises.

57 framed color and black-and-white photographs (7 oversized), text panels, labels

Contact scheduling department for reduced fee update

Ed Liskey to schedule, 202.633.3142
Marquette Folley for content, 202.633.3111