Photographs taken in the Chaoyang District of Beijing, China. Part of a series that correlates the redevelopment of Beijing to an infectious disease that continues to displace citizens while destroying neighborhoods and heritage. 40 inches X 60 inches Archival Pigment Prints Hahnemühle Photo Rag Satin Paper
Within INFECTION, I am correlating the redevelopment of Beijing to an infectious disease that continues to displace citizens while destroying neighborhoods and heritage.
This infectious disease has reached epidemic proportions with total disregard for anyone or anything in its way. Developers are ignoring prior contracts, demolishing newly built homes, and igniting social conflicts and tension between governments and its people. As the city continues to grow, so do the physical, emotional, and financial woes of its citizens.
While working on this project, I was able to convey my concept towards the redevelopment of Beijing by keeping my subjects anonymous and by dragging the shutter. I kept thinking back to the slogan for the 2008 Olympic games, One World One Dream. Two questions arose frequently: who is the visionary behind such a dream for the Chinese and what was the driving factor to create such destruction. Between the eviction gangs, the aggravated citizens targeted, and the cycle of violence that continues to occur the modernization of Beijing has no foreseeable end and no rational means of execution. My frustration and my inability to understand why and how this could be happening, coupled with the sense of investigating, lead to the creation of these images. I am still perplexed at this issue and will be traveling back to Beijing in the fall of 2011.
These images examine the Chaoyang District of Beijing as this disease spreads.