Made in China
Paul Wong, 2008
Series of 24 colour photographs (14.75 X 22 in) & DVD
Paul Wong is a Chinese-Canadian artist born in Prince Rupert BC. Over the last 27 years Wong has made numerous visits to China and has accumulated thousands of images and dozens of hours of video. His most recent visit was in June 2008. Recently excavated from the bowels of Wong’s archives is a collection of now vintage images of the People’s Republic of China. During Wong’s first and second journeys to the motherland in 1982 + 1986 he shot hundreds of frames of color transparencies , b/w photographs and recorded hours of video and film based on his first impressions of meetings with family members and China-at-large.
In 1988 he produced the feature length video Ordinary Shadows, Ordinary Shadows. On the 20th anniversary of the release of the critically acclaimed work (in the collection of the National Gallery) O.S.C.S. was featured as part of a spotlight on Paul Wong at the 2008 Reel Asian International Film Festival in Toronto.
This is the first time that Wong has returned to these vintage photographic materials, he has made use of current digital techniques to produce an insightful series of photographs from 35 mm transparencies. Made In China includes images from Southern China (Guangdong and Toi San), Shanghai and Inner Mongolia.
Made in China captures a very special moment of China in the early years of transitioning from post-cultural revolution politics to embracing the open market.
These prints have been exhibited:
Shanghai Restaurant in Ottawa (Nov. 08)
The National Art Centre BC Scene (April 09, Ottawa).
On Main Gallery (May, 2010, Vancouver)
Barristers Lounge, Vancouver Law Courts (Sping 2011)
Distributed by Paul Wong Projects
