Yesterday, we had an insight into Shanghai-born street photographer Tang Ying who will debut her new work from Cologne, Germany at the 8th Shanghai Photographers Night next Wed (13 April, 8pm at Dada Bar).
Today, I want to introduce you to our next artist, the Shanghai-based French photographer Eric Leleu who maintains a wonderfully diverse and eclectic photographic diary Shanghai Airport.
Eric will be presenting Chapter 1 of his project, “Instants décisifs”, made up of reality-like digitally-composed images taken during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His showcase will include an impressive video timelapse animation of all the photo material he used to produce the series.
In true philosophical fashion, Eric describes the joy of shooting amidst a crowd in the course of “Instants décisifs”, echoing what many street photographers consider to be rich material for their work.
“I enjoy being in a crowd. It is like swimming. Feeling the contact of water on my skin. Bathing in the throng. Prendre un bain de foule. At times immersed, at times submerged. Belonging to a crowd is forgetting oneself. Disappearing as an individual. Becoming anonymous. Looking at one’s neighbour, the Everyman, we can see ourselves. Forgetting social status and its implications. Re-becoming human, almost animal.”
“Interactions with passers-by may occur. Then, I re-create a reality. A reality that I distill, that I skim. A reality made communicable, translatable. A new reality. I play with colours to seek for harmony. I build a composition to seek for energy. I examine the crowd at the level of the group. Watching water as a whole, while staring at the drops that compose it. “
