HUJIALOU

Photography series 2008-2009

Hujialou#67, 2009, pigment print, 84x100cm©Saana Wang

“Neon lights glow in the dark in tones of green and blue. It is my first night in Beijing, the year is 1991.”

Hujialou is a residential district in the eastern part of Beijing. Centrally located, Hujialou is changing rapidly as modern city planning takes over and the old seeks to find its place alongside the new. This change applies not only to the local landscape; it has much broader implications that penetrate deep into the social, cultural and historical layers of the area.

To distance the pictures from the traditional, I use a theatrical element to transform the residents into fictional characters, allowing us to see deeper and opening up the possibility of addressing views on a broader scale.

The momentary photographs record a multilayered reality in which personal memory is woven into a broader experience of change.

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