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Nadav Kander
Yangtze - The Long River
HC, 35 x 27,5 cm., o.pp.
Hatje Cantz 2010

In "Yangtze - The Long River" fasziniert Kander mit seinen Fotografien in Zeiten des Umbruchs. Der Yangtse - drittgrösster Strom der Welt und grösster Fluss Asiens oder die Lebensader Chinas - ist genauso wie das restliche China dem Wandel unterworfen. Wie weit kann China noch gehen um auf Kosten des Fortschritts die eigene Identität zu kappen? Im Vorwort (...) schrieb Kofi Annan über die Fortschritte Chinas, aber auch über die Konsequenzen des Wachstums und Fortschritts der riesigen Wirtschaftsmacht. Die Fotografien sind allesamt Bilder des Wandels, nur ein Zwischenstand und deshalb einzigartig und sind größtenteils nicht mehr vorhanden. Zusätzlich im Buch sind interessante Notizen des Fotografen und die jeweilige Entstehungsgeschichte der Fotos abgedruckt", so z.B. zum Bild "Bathers, Yibin, Sichuan" "... When a second and third swimmer ran past, complete with cork rescue tyres (the kind you would have found at public swimming baths in the fifties), I decided to follow. After a halfmile or so, I was exhausted from carrying a lot of equipment at pace. ... I wish I could have found out more, but our differing languages once again put paid to that idea."; an anderer Stelle: "A metal palm replaces thoses that seem to be dying in a new apartment compound in expanding Nanjing. (Ironically, this palm looks even more dead than the originals.) " (students.ch "book of the month October")

"WPO Academy member Nadav Kander?s new book, "Yangtze, The Long River", is published this month by Hatje Cantz. Awarded the Prix Pictet in 2009, this series depicts an age of radical change, China in the process of revolution. Drawn to the immense scale of China and its development, Kander?s project focuses on the Yangtze River, whose banks and waterways provide home and livelihood for hundreds of millions of Chinese. Taken along the river from its source in remote western China to its mouth just off the shores of Shanghai, these photographs depict the human footprint of habitat and industry that can be seen along the shores of China?s longest river. Serene pictures of people haplessly facing overwhelming change, the river - China?s main artery - becomes a metaphor of constant transformation. As Kander himself says, ?China is a nation that appears to be severing its roots by destroying its past in the wake of the sheer force of its moving ?forward? at such an astounding and unnatural pace. A people scarring their country, and a country scarring its people.
Although Kander admits it was never his intention to make documentary pictures he understands that the sociological context of the project is very important and ever present, ?The displacement of 3 million people in a 600km stretch of the River and the effect on humanity when a country moves towards the future at pace are themes that will inevitably be present within the work?. A Chinese man who Kander befriended whilst working on the project reiterated what many Chinese people feel: ? Why do we have to destroy to develop??, explaining that the scale of development has left most places unrecognizable from few decades ago he felt a profound disconnection from his past, ?Nothing is the same. We can?t revisit where we came from because it no longer exists.? (worldphoto.org)

Linkl zum Film: http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2010/01/11/yangtze-the-long-river-by-nadav-kander/  

"Kander talks about his Prix Pictet award winning work from China: They are just pictures, but pictures that cant be takenagain. The Yangtze River, which forms the premise to this body of work, is the main artery that flows 4100 miles (6500km) across China, travelling from its furthest westerly point in Qinghai Providence to Shanghai in the East. In this installation, Nadav invites the visitors to reflect with him on his journey." (in: aphotoeditor.com)

 


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