Varda Carmeli - Israel
Site: www.vardacarmeliart.com
Beijing – An Image About to Change
In the very heart of Beijing, in the midst of dark alleys, ancient traditional quarters called hutongs have been situated there for hundreds of years. They are made up of little houses built around inner courtyards that are shared by several families in cramped living conditions. Most of these hutongs are undergoing drastically rapid destruction carried out expressly in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The ancient ground-hugging houses are being replaced by hundreds of towering high-rise apartment buildings, office buildings, and hotels and their evicted tenants resettled in high-rise buildings on the outskirts of the city.
The Exhibition “Beijing – An Image About to Change” was photographed in the hutongs of Beijing in the Spring of 2007.
The exhibition comprises two series. Photographs taken through narrow apertures offering an intimate glimpse into the locked and hidden-from-view courtyards form one of the series. The other one consists of panoramic photographs, built up of iconic objects from various neighborhoods that were recorded and worked on to form an open, allegorical picture of the street and its residents.
The two series with their diverse points of view enable Varda Carmeli to display before us an image of ancient scenes and lifestyles that have survived up to the present day a moment before the change has occurred.
