Focus
Photographer keeps focus on city's garbage
By Zhao Yanrong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-15 12:56
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Four hundred spots are marked on a map of Beijing. "They are the garbage heaps created by people living in Beijing," said photographer Wang Jiuliang, who instead of using his camera to photograph the city's magnificent skyscrapers, fancy restaurants and luxury hotels, turns his lens on the tons of rubbish produced by the city.
The 33-year-old freelance photographer won the gold award for Outstanding Artist of the Year at the 2009 Lianzhou International Photography Festival, but said, "I don't want the award to bring honor to myself, I would rather society realizes the fact that we are living in a city surrounded by trash. I want to raise environmental awareness in every citizen's mind. That would be the best prize for my work."
Wang was born in Anqiu, Shandong province, in 1976. While other boys were playing games in front of his yard, he was reading the history of Chinese philosophy. "I couldn't understand all of them at that time, but I really enjoyed reading them," he said.
At the time, photography was like the Chinese philosophy books in his life. He could not say why he was fascinated by photography, but he was.
In 1997 even before enrolling for the cinema-television school at the Communication University of China, Wang established his own studio in Jinan, Shandong province. And because of his strong passion for photography and his astute observations, Wang was soon exhibiting his works at many international photo festivals while still a college student.
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WANG JIULIANG FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER |
In 2008, while visiting his hometown, he found the river was not as clear as it used to be and millions of plastic bags used for farm chemicals and pesticides had been dumped on the land. He realized the plastic bags and other garbage would never disappear unless people took action.
Back in Beijing, while planning to shoot consumer behavior in the city, he started locating the rubbish tips around the capital, "The rubbish tips are like a mirror, they reflect the high speed expansion of the city," Wang said.
"We see the construction going on in Beijing every day and we see the demolition of old buildings and the rising of new ones. But what we don't see is the tons of construction rubbish around Beijing," he added.
In order to capture the reality of the city surrounded by garbage, Wang covered 7,500 km on his motorbike and took photos of 13 large landfill sites, covering an area of more than 10 sq km.
"I could smell the air from the landfills, before I could see them," Wang said.
As a result, Wang is now very familiar with the size and locations of all the landfills around Beijing.
Besides garbage, junk collectors are also an important feature of Wang's work.
Even though Wang has become a successful photographer, he has never lost his respect for them. He said the junk collectors are an important part of society, that by recycling items they reduce the amount of trash. But, he admits that it wasn't easy to photograph them at first.
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Eventually they accepted him and he took many photographs of the children who were born and grew up in the trash heaps. In the end he gave them more than a hundred photos as gifts.
"I am happy to help them record their lives," he said.
While Wang is now a celebrity, he is determined that his success will not deflect him from his mission.
"My work has not been finished yet. I will return to consumerism in order to help more people understand the garbage crisis," he said.
