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TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN Exhibition photos An exhibition of photographs by Wu Jia Lin and his wife Wu Yue Hua
Wu Jia Lin grew up in Zhao Tong, an area of great poverty in the northeastern edge of Yunnan province, China. He worked as a photographer for the Yunan Photo Agency, and worked his way up to be the chairman. His work caught the eyes of Marc Riboud, a founding member of the famous Magnum Agency in Paris, and with his support, held numerous exhibitions in the US, Paris and Germany, to great critical acclaim. He has published numerous photo books on Yunnan.
In the best documentary tradition, Wu Jia Lin works with black and white film, using his Leica – a gift from the manufacturer – and usually with only one lens.
Wu Yue Hua, his wife, is a retired primary school teacher. Following the death of her son in a traffic accident, she fell into a depression. Wary of leaving her alone at home, Wu Jia Lin took her along in his working trips around Yunnan and, to alleviate her boredom, gave her a digital camera for amusement. The photographs she took, however, impressed him with their originality. He encouraged her to explore the medium. She photographed everyday life in the city and villages around them home in Kunming, mostly while she was running her daily chores of shopping and taking the grandson to and from school. They are well observed and composed, a perfect balance of spontaneity and artistry. They are also vivid comments on the life in a city in China, a contrast of lifestyles and clashing colours. She has been taking photographs for slightly more than a year, but has already published her own photo book.
The juxtaposition of their work contrasts and complements each other. On the one hand, the black and white work of an accomplished artist, humanistic, austere and methodical, on the other, colourful photographs of great complexity, seemingly naïve, but always making order out of chaos.
A photographer from Magnum said that their works are “two side of the same coin”, hence the title of the exhibition.
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