A highlight of today was the 20-minute metro ride we took from Yang Jia Ping in to the city centre, Lin Jiang Men, a rollercoaster of a journey that swept us through the city above and below the streets of Chongqing.
I have a piece of video footage that shows the journey far better than I can describe it, unfortunately I’m having trouble uploading it at the moment, probably due to access restrictions placed on certain websites. I will keep trying and will upload it when I’m back in the UK if necessary.
Nina Chua
20th November
Observational Photography.
After exploring Chongqing separately for most of the day we met at Chongqing’s oldest tea house (it’s only about 60 years old, which shows how quickly the city moves on). It is essentially where people meet for tea, and where (mainly older) men play Mahjong, Draughts and cards, in a tumbledown, wooden building. Amongst the tea drinkers is a flock of art students from the very nearby Sichuan Institute of Fine Art. They are all armed with sketchbooks and charcoals and have come to study the faces of the old men playing Mahjong. Added to this scene today, are two strange looking foreign women, photographing the old men and art students and in return are also being watched and drawn. It is a bizarre situation of mutual observation. But the observation doesn’t really extend beyond mild curiosity, it’s all very relaxed.
The idea of watching and looking is something that we are very aware of at the moment. In Chongqing, as well as being artists, who are here to work, we are also tourists, and are constantly exploring and photographing what we find. Nina even more so, as she is out and about every day in Huang Jai Ping (the area where we live) seeking out places and activities to inform her work. In this area almost every aspect of everyday life is visible from the street. We are trying to find a balance, when stumbling through peoples lives, of when to photograph, when just to look and when to turn round and walk away.
Jessica Longmore
19th November
Chongqing
The river and other things
There is no doubt that the journey we made to the river yesterday has touched upon my psyche. Yesterday we felt the affects of time spent at the river, a slight headache and nausea, perhaps caused by breathing in pollution or perhaps by the culmination of new experiences. We spoke a lot about the river yesterday evening and I dreamt about the river last night.
Something of the river lingers, the lure of water and what you discover when you get there.
I returned to the river today with a slight feeling of dread. I walked the same route as yesterday and was equally as struck with the scene that met me, a hazy expanse of grey water, sky and concrete. It’s actually very beautiful and I spent several hours recording the scene but I could not escape the overwhelming sense of a sickness that seems to inhabit everything living and growing there.
I caught a quick glimpse of some photographs Jessica took in the corridors and stairwells of 501 Artspace. Thinking back, I realise that I have no idea what Jessica was up to this morning. If I ask her tomorrow to recall, she might not exactly remember since so much happens in a day that is new and thought provoking.
During this residency there is the time we spend together and there is the time we spend with our work. It is not always easy to articulate in our daily discussions what happens during this time but it can be grasped through a quick glimpse of a photograph.
Nina Chua
November 18th
Chongqing
The River.
The Yangtze runs through Chongqing and its bank is about 20 minutes walk from our studio, via the power station. As we get closer to the river, the journey becomes more difficult. The pavement narrows, as the number of lorries passing us increases, carrying their load to and from the power station. The ground is thick with grey sludge and everything surrounding us: trees, houses, cars – is coated in dust. The air is heavy and oppressive. Everything has been leached of colour, contrasting greatly from street markets and painted buildings in the area of Chongqing around our studio.
Families live all along the banks of the Yangtze, fish in the murky water, grow crops on every available patch of land, and daily breathe the soot laden air. Nina made some video here and I took some photographs of the tranquil and almost classical river side views. Looking back on them, it looks like silvery morning mist, or fog at dusk – in reality this was midday on a clear Chongqing day.
Jessica Longmore
17 November 2010
Chongqing
Yuan Jia Ping is a large shopping district close to where we are staying. The city centre is much larger but it’s more difficult to get to and Yuan Jia Ping has pretty much everything we might need: local shops, international brands, supermarkets, banks, clothes, electrical goods, art materials, book shops, food markets, a flower market and the list goes on.
We spent the afternoon in Yuan Jia Ping, not really buying anything just wandering in and out of main streets and side streets, taking pictures to remind us in the future of what we saw.
Nina Chua
16 November 2010
Chongqing
