Fear & Loathing in Beijing 荒诞废墟

March 30, 2018 2018年3月30日

 

无法观看?前往优酷

ROBBBB is a Chinese street artist who’s risen to acclaim in the world of contemporary art over recent years. Based in Beijing, the young artist is best known for the life-sized characters he wheat pastes on abandoned buildings and in half-demolished neighborhoods. His work satirizes the contradictions of our modern lives and the darker aspects of human nature. Anxiety, hostility, distress, and fear – topics that many people would rather turn a blind eye to – are common throughout his work.


来自中国的街头艺术家 ROBBBB ,近年来在当代艺术界享有盛誉。这位年轻的艺术家长居北京,他最出名的是在废弃的建筑和半拆除的小区里,画上和真人等大的人物形象。他作品中那种尖刻的幽默感讽刺了现代社会存在的矛盾,以及我们通常更愿意视而不见的人性黑暗面——焦虑、痛苦、敌意、软弱和恐惧。

Born in 1990, the young artist believes much of his art stems from his misunderstandings of society, or to be more precise, his subjective misinterpretations of an objective reality. But this a point of pride for ROBBBB – he sees misinterpretations as being channels through which art and creativity can manifest and thrive.

“As an example, everyone will interpret the messages and ideas conveyed by a good film differently depending on their own individual experiences,” ROBBBB says. “I feel like this is how the world is created, from endless misinterpretations and perspectives. The important thing is to express it.”


生于 1990 年的他,认为自己的大部分艺术源于对社会的误解,或者更确切地说,是对客观现实的主观误解。但这也是 ROBBBB 引以为傲的一点,他认为误解是艺术和创造力得以表现和发展的途径。

很多人对一部好电影都会有强烈的反应。但最终,电影传达的信息和想法将被他们根据自己的个人经验而被不同地解读。他说,我觉得这就像世界一样,这正是世界创造的方式,来自于无尽的误解和各种观点。重要的是要将它表达出来。

From a pot-bellied spiderman eating skewered spiders to clowns fighting over Chinese porcelain, the farfetched imagery ROBBBB incorporates into his work is ultimately a way for him to force viewers to contemplate on the absurdities of our everyday reality.


从那个大腹便便、吃着蜘蛛的蜘蛛侠,到为了青花瓷花瓶打斗的小丑们,ROBBBB 的作品将这些毫无瓜葛的形象融入其中,其实最终是为了迫使观众去思考日常现实的荒谬之处。

Websitewww.robbbb.com

 

Contributor & Videographer: George Zhi Zhao


网站www.robbbb.com

 

供稿人与视频摄影师: George Zhi Zhao

Accentuating Mongolian Beauty 蒙古的时尚摄影

March 29, 2018 2018年3月29日

Shagdarsuren Bayarsaikhan, or better known to her fans as Shmio, is a Mongolian fashion photographer residing in Japan. Although she’s currently studying architecture at university, she’s been using photography to challenge the conventions of how the world sees her native country ever since she took up the medium in 2014. Mongolia has long been seen through elements of its traditional culture that the outside world finds exotic, such as yurts, lush grasslands, and fur-clad nomads herding livestock. Shmio’s photographs are a striking departure from this stereotype: Mongolians grace her images in all their unabashed beauty, but without the tropes of Western exoticism.


Shagdarsuren Bayarsaikhan 是一位居住在日本的蒙古时尚摄影师,她更为粉丝所熟悉的名字是 Shmio。尽管她目前正在大学修读建筑学,但自从2014年拿起相机起,她就一直在通过摄影这一媒介来改变人们对她的祖国的一些偏见。一直以来,其它国家人们对蒙古的了解,大都局限于其传统文化的元素,一些充满异国情调的画面,譬如蒙古包、茂盛的草原,或是身穿皮草大衣的牧民在放牧牲畜。而 Shmio 的摄影作品却和这些刻板印象大相径庭:蒙古人独特的面貌让她的照片别具魅力,但却避免了西方世界所理解的那种异国情调。

Shmio’s soft tones and striking subjects have earned her high praise. In her series, Beautiful Mongolian Woman, she shot her subjects in her apartment, in Ulaanbaatar, in front of a plain blue backdrop. The color is a subtle homage to Munkh Khukh Tengri, a Mongolian tradition of worshipping the vast blue sky. Shmio juxtaposes the blue background with the red circles painted on her model’s cheeks. These elements of tradition enhance rather than distract from her subject’s beauty. “I saw her at a party, and saw how she had a very unique Mongolian look,” she recalls, “and I just wanted to capture that look. So we planned a photo session at my home.”


Shmio 作品中的柔和色调和醒目的主题让她倍受赞赏。在创作她的摄影系列《Beautiful Mongolian Woman》(《美丽的蒙古女人》)时,她邀请摄影对象来到自己位于乌兰巴托的公寓里,在简单的蓝色背景前面进行拍摄。这种颜色是蒙古人对“Munkh Khukh Tengri”(指无垠且永恒的蓝天)的一种微妙致敬。Shmio 将蓝色背景与模特脸颊上描画的红色圆圈并列在一起。这些传统元素的添加,意外地突显了模特的美感。“我是在一次聚会上遇到她的,当时就觉得她的脸属于非常典型的蒙古面孔。”她回忆说,“我只是想用镜头记录这样面孔。所以,我们就商量好在我家拍一组照片。”

Shmio also departs from the casual excess of typical Mongolian fashion photography. A meticulously planned minimalism punctuates her work. “I typically imagine what kind of photo I want to take. I feel when I do that I get better photos than when I just show up and see what happens. I have trouble getting good shots if I don’t plan,” she says. She also believes that the background shouldn’t overwhelm an image. “If you have too much going on in the background,” she explains, “you have to make the subject stand out more, and that just makes the image too busy.” Her work stands in stark contrast with the luxury-laden imagery often found in her country’s commercial shoots.

Still, she believes Mongolian fashion photography is starting to move in the right direction.  “Photographers are finally capturing the style and imagery of Mongolian youth,” she says. “Yes, on some occasions even major brands have blatantly plagiarized foreign photographers. Overall, though, it’s getting better.”


Shmio没有遵循蒙古国内许多时尚摄影那种华丽的风格。而是选择以精心策划的极简风格来凸现自己的作品。“我通常会先想好我想拍什么样的照片。比起直接到现场即兴发挥,我觉得这样更能拍出好的照片。如果我不事先计划好,很难能拍到好的照片。”她说道。除此之外,她认为,照片的背景不应该喧宾夺主。她解释道:“如果照片的背景过于复杂,你要更用力地让模特突出来,这样一来,画面就会变得很乱。”她的作品与蒙古商业摄影向来的华丽风格形成了鲜明的对比。

尽管如此,她认为蒙古国内的时尚摄影正开始朝着正确的方向前进。“摄影师终于抓住了蒙古族年轻人的风格和形象。”她说,“确实,有时即使是大品牌也会公然剽窃国外摄影师的作品。但总的来说,还是在进步的。”

Though she doesn’t see herself as breaking with the status quo, she’s considered a bold artist by her peers. “I’m not planning to become a professional photographer anytime soon. I want to pursue a career in architecture. Photography is something I love, something that makes me happy.” The honesty Shmio brings to her photography is also evident in her definition of beauty: “Beauty for me is not something fake. It’s original. It makes you feel calm. As soon as you see it, you can’t help but gasp and say, ‘That’s beautiful.’”


Shmio不认为自己是在打破现状,但在同行眼中,她已经被视为是一位风格大胆的艺术家。“目前我还没打算要成为专业的摄影师。我想从事建筑行业。但摄影是我所喜欢、能让我快乐的事情。”Shmio在摄影中所展现的坦诚也体现在她对美的定义中:“对我来说,美不应该是假的。而应该是原创的,能平静人心的。真正的美,是在你看到它时,你会忍不住吸口气,感叹道‘真是太美了。’”

Facebook: ~/Sh_Mio
Instagram: @Sh_Mio
Behance: ~/Sh_Mio

 

Contributor: Anand Tumurtogoo


脸书: ~/Sh_Mio
Instagram: @Sh_Mio
Behance: ~/Sh_Mio

 

供稿人: Anand Tumurtogoo

Doodling with Dodolulu 抱歉,内容无法读取

March 28, 2018 2018年3月28日

Hong Kong-based illustrator dodolulu has long found it difficult to strike a balance between having an active social life and sufficient alone time. This dilemma is embodied in her watercolor illustrations in the form of expressionless female characters who carry themselves with an aura of ambivalence. Meandering through the pages of her sketchbook, these doll-like characters have become a way for dodolulu to share her observations on the quirks of human nature.

“I believe people are generally expressionless when they’re alone,” she comments. “We’ll look like we’re devoid of any emotion. This is our truest forms. That’s why I choose to draw my characters this way. When people see these characters I draw, I want them to look inwards and discover what’s in their hearts.”


她笔下的人物大多是女孩。她们看来虚无飘渺,带着一副空洞、难以读取的表情,在孤独与人群中徘徊来去 。这些面无表情、从不重复的人偶,都是出自香港插画师 dodolulu 的创作。

她用画画来抒情,把对人际关系的细心观察,都投射在她的画里。“我觉得人在独处的时候,大多都不会带有表情,看起来没有情绪,这是我们最真实的状态。所以我画的人几乎都是这样。我想借由这些人偶,去寻找观者更加内在、藏在心底的东西。”

In a way, the emotionless demeanors of her characters act as blank canvases. It allows the audience ample room to draw from their past experiences and form their own interpretations of the work. “Some people say that my drawings are dreamy or relaxing to look at, and others have described them as being overly melancholic,” dodolulu tells us. “I think it’s quite interesting that the same drawing can elicit such different interpretations from person to person.”


面无表情的人物画就像是一张留白的画布,看的人把情感投影在上面,像镜子一样反映出自己的内心世界 。“有些人说我的画让人感觉到很梦幻、舒服, 也有人形容看起来很忧伤 。我觉得观众能从同一幅画作感受出不同的心情,这一点很有趣。”

While art has been a useful tool in helping dodolulu manifest many of her ideas, the human need to socialize with others remains a puzzling matter for her.  “I enjoy alone time, and I think my drawings reveal just how much I truly appreciate solitude,” she admits. “But I think everyone experiences similar struggles of wanting to find a balance between spending time with friends and setting aside alone time for themselves. It’s a constant tug-of-war. I suppose my illustrations are ultimately a way for me to muse on this human predicament.”


对 dodolulu 来说,与人相处是一个矛盾的难题。“我很喜欢自己一个人的宁静时光,在画画时多少透露了这种享受独处的心境。我觉得每个人都是不断在群体和自我之间拉扯,在互动与孤独、自我和众人之中找一个落脚点。透过绘画,我想表达的大概就是这样一种,身为人不得不面临到的对立关系。”

Website: dodolulu
Instagram: @dodolulu.design
Twitter: @dodolulu_design

 

Contributor: Yang Yixuan


网站: dodolulu
Instagram@dodolulu.design
Twitter@dodolulu_design

 

供稿人: Yang Yixuan

Darting Between Fiction & Reality 我是白

March 27, 2018 2018年3月27日
  • Book by Wo Shi Bai. Swipe to read.

“Ludicrous.”

“A fiction within a fiction.”

“Cuts between perspectives in time and space.”

“Just read through your comics, some of them are really deadpan and really funny, some of them I don’t quite get, some of them really hit you in the gut.”

“The author is 30? Hahaha.”

“The author’s got to be a woman…”

All these are messages and comments left by readers of the comics of Wo Shi Bai, whose pen name literally means “I Am White.” For his fans, these comments have just about become required reading. Sometimes they point out a detail in a comic you missed, sometimes they leave you marveling at the reader’s overactive imagination.

And sometimes Wo Shi Bai will write a few words in reply, such as: “Thanks for the messages. I notice most of the feedback comes from people who don’t understand the comics or don’t get the point. Honestly, I drew them to record boring everyday experiences, really ordinary stuff. The first part is about the book the main character’s reading, or related to his mental state.”


“好荒诞!”
“虚构性虚构。”
“时空视角切换。”
“刚刷了遍你的漫画,有些很冷很好笑,有些看不太懂,也有些一下击中心脏。”
“作者 30 岁?哈哈哈~”
“作者是女生吧……”

这些是读者看了我是白的漫画后,给他的留言和评论。这些内容几乎成了观看他的漫画之后,大家必不可少也会去阅读的一部分。甚至有的时候,这些留言会让你发现漫画里之前没有发现的一个细节,或者竟然读者的脑洞可以这样大之类的感叹。

有的时候我是白也会回复大家几句,比如:“谢谢楼上的留言,我发现大部分反馈是看不懂或者不知道点在哪里,其实我画这篇漫画就是记录一段日常琐事,很平淡的内容,开头一段是表达男主在看的书的内容,或者是与他的精神状态的联系。”

From Chuck & The Portal / 来自《查克与传送门》
From Chuck & The Portal / 来自《查克与传送门》

As a comic artist in the internet age, Wo Shi Bai has been in dialogue with these unseen critics from the start. You could even say that the very existence of these readers, both the ones who get it and the ones who don’t, is what gave Wo Shi Bai the chance to change his life and focus on his creative work. That’s jumbling the timeline, though: in reality, it was an assignment from Gummi Comics in early 2017 that led Wo Shi Bai to start drawing seriously. Yet as anyone who’s read his work knows, this kind of jumble is the precisely what makes his comics so engaging: they leap and dart across space and time. Comics have an expressiveness that gives him a great deal of creative freedom.

“After drawing a few comics,” he says, “I found that a lot of ideas I couldn’t express in a single image I could express easily in comic form.”


作为一个互联网时代的漫画家,我是白的创作从一开始就和这些看不见的读者紧密地联合在了一起,或者说正是有这些看不懂和看得懂的读者的存在,才得以让我是白遇到了一个改变了他生活和创作的机遇。

这样讲似乎有点时间逻辑混乱,其实是因为 2017 年初的一次来自于《软糖漫画》的约稿,才让我是白真正开始画起了漫画。但是如果你也看过他的那些漫画,你就会明白这样的混乱恰恰是他漫画里一个很有趣的特质。从一个空间跳跃到另一个空间,从一个时间穿越到另一个时间。漫画的这种表达方式,给了他很大的创作自由,“在画了一些漫画之后,我发现我有蛮多单幅画面传达不了的想法可以用漫画的形式顺畅表达。”

  • Swipe to read.

  • This is my last story for Gummi Comics.

  • When I was coming up with the story, I started getting a migraine.

  • It usually takes three to four hours before I feel better.

  • I’ll feel better with the lights off. I’ll just sit in the dark and wait for the headache to pass.

  • Not doing anything, I began to drift into the recesses of my memories.

  • In 1997, my mom went to Japan to work at a clothing factory there. Seeing her off at the airport was the first time I took a taxi.

  • I was in first grade at the time, and I got extremely carsick. I regretted going along to see her off. (If I’d known I wouldn’t have come…)

  • My dad had been in a hospital long-term, and for the next three years I lived with my grandparents, aunt, and uncle.

  • All I did the whole day was play with the kids living nearby.

  • We brewed concoctions with pills, dead insects, and leaves.

  • Stuck firecrackers in toads’ mouths.

  • There was a kid a few years younger than us, and we didn’t always include him.

  • To grab our attention, he’d pretend to poop or masturbate.

  • Most of the time in the summer I’d watch T.V. by myself at home.

  • Sometimes I’d climb out of the second-floor windows and get lost gazing up at the sky.

  • The rooftop panels were burning hot in the sun.

  • In the building across the way, I’d sometimes see a little girl.

  • We’d undress for each other.

  • My memory is hazy. Maybe it was just me who undressed.

  • At the time, landlines had just become commonplace.

  • But I was terrified of picking up the phone. I don’t know why. Whenever it rang, I’d throw a blanket over it to muffle the sound.

  • Or sometimes I’d quietly pick it up and listen for a bit before gently hanging up. (Hello? Hello? Hello? That’s weird, someone definitely picked up…)

  • One particularly boring afternoon, I went through every corner of our house.

  • In a bedside cabinet, I found a pile of five-mao coins. I exchanged them for a kind of popsicle called “Mr. Banana.”

  • I also dug up my aunt and uncle’s book that taught newly married couples how to maintain their relationship.

    I also flipped through my aunt and uncle’s

  • At the time, Hong Kong just transferred its sovereignty back to China. By the time Macau was handed back over, my mom moved back.

  • I used the allowance money she gave me to buy accessories for my Mini 4WD racer.

  • Not long after, this entire neighborhood where I grew up was demolished.

  • Revisiting the area, there are no traces of my childhood to be found.

  • I think the migraine is easing up.

  • I think I still remember the phone number from that old house. I wonder what would happen if I called it.

Wo Shi Bai was born in Shanghai’s Songjiang district, and in a comic titled Migraine, he talks about his childhood there. The main character, drawn simply as a boy with hair, represents the author himself. But in Song, another comic, the story he tells is fictional, and for that fiction, he created a character with nothing but eyes and a mouth. That’s right: no eyebrows, nose, ears, or hair.

“I only kept the eyes and mouth, and added a human outline, to have a minimal vehicle of expression. That’s how the blank little guy came about,” he says.

Readers often think this blank character – xiao bai ren (小白人) – is Wo Shi Bai, because their names are so similar.

“Some of my moods and states come through in that character,” he concedes, “So there’s a part of ‘myself’ inside. Really, every writer’s characters probably have something of themselves inside.”


我是白出生在上海松江,在他的一个漫画《偏头痛》里,他讲述了他童年在松江的往事,里面的那个有头发的男孩角色就是作者自己。而在另一个漫画《Song》里,他又讲述了一个虚构的故事,并且为了这个虚构的故事,他创作了一个只有眼睛和嘴巴的角色(是的,连眉毛、鼻子、耳朵还有头发都没有),“只保留眼睛和嘴巴,加上人的轮廓这些用来‘演出’最低限度的‘工具’,小白人就这样诞生了。”

很多时候,读者也会把小白人和我是白本人联系起来,因为他们的名字太像了。“通过 ta,我的一些状态和情绪具象化了,所以有一部分的‘我’在ta里面。实际上每个作者创作的人物都有一部分自己存在吧。”

  • Swipe to read.

Wo Shi Bai’s comics always alternate between these two figures. Maybe the one with the hair represents reality, while the blank one represents fiction, and only by combining both their stories can you come close to getting a complete picture of Wo Shi Bai. You start to see how much he enjoys this “back-and-forth” creative style – darting back and forth between fiction and reality. It’s like the series of illustrations he once drew called Chuck and the Portal. The feeling of being here one moment and flying somewhere else the next is what he likes best about his creative work. “When I’m at home drawing by myself, I feel like I’m on some remote island,” he says. It’s a solitary, quiet feeling, and I get lost in my thoughts and my creative work. Especially when it’s raining – then I feel even more cut off. The rain adds another barrier between you and the outside world.”


我是白的漫画总是在这样的 2 个主角里摇摆,有头发的那个或许代表的是现实,而那个小白人代表了虚构。而将这两个不同角色的漫画故事混合在一起看,似乎才能更为接近一个完整的“我是白”,你会发现其实他很享受这样的一种“穿行”式的创作方式,在现实和虚构里穿行。就像他曾经画过一套名叫《查克与传送门》插画作品一样,这种忽而在这里,忽而又飞到了那里的感觉,恰恰是他在创作时最享受的时刻。“一个人在家里画画的时候,我感到仿佛置身孤岛。这样孤独而平静的感受让我完全沉浸在思考和创作中。特别是下雨的时候,更加会觉得和外面隔绝。下雨把你和外面的世界又隔了一道屏障。”

  • Closet by Wo Shi Bai. Swipe to read.

  • When my grandmother was in my great grandmother’s body

  • My mother was already in my grandmother’s body.

  • And at the same time, I was already in my mother’s body.

  • But there’s no one inside my body because I’m a boy.

  • I didn’t quite understand how people were born into this world, so that was my theory.

  • The grown-ups told me that babies are born after you get married, but this didn’t feel like a satisfying answer.

  • Isn’t getting married just a bunch of people getting together to eat a meal?

  • How does eating food produce babies?

  • So the only explanation is that everyone already exists inside other people. I was quite happy with myself after coming up with this answer.

  • I thought about all of this inside a closet at my kindergarten.

  • Ten minutes ago, I talked in class, and my teacher put me in here as a timeout.

  • I didn’t feel like I was being punished. It felt fun.

  • Seeing all my peers outside, all well-behaved, and me not having to be part of it gave me inexplicable joy.

  • On my way home, I shared the baby theory with my mom. After hearing it, she laughed, and that’s when I knew something was off about my answer.

  • A few years later, an older kid in the neighborhood told me the truth of it all.

  • And much to my surprise, it turns out the answer was hidden in the curse words that we commonly used.

  • Since then, nothing has shocked me more.

In fall 2017, Wo Shi Bai held his first solo exhibition in Shanghai where he met his online fans for the first time. “Maybe because everyone there was a fan of my comics, I felt they all had a few similar traits: they were delicate, shy, and quiet,” he says. Yet they may have even more in common with the blank character in his art. Maybe they too go to work by themselves, come home by themselves, eat takeout by themselves, read by themselves. Maybe they have also a pet at home and a fantasy world inside their heads. And maybe in Wo Shi Bai’s comics they find a resonance with their lives that they’ve long been missing.


在 2017 年秋天,我是白在上海举行了他的一次个人展览,在这个展览上,也是他第一次和互联网上的粉丝见面。“可能是因为喜欢我的这些漫画的缘故,所以感觉大家身上都有一种相似的特征:细腻,害羞,还有安静”。不过,他们和漫画故事里的那个“小白人”,也许真的有不少的相似性,也许他们也是一个人上班,一个人下班,一个人住,一个人吃便当,一个人看书,然后家里也有个小宠物,在脑海里有一个幻想的世界,而我是白的这些漫画,让他们找到了那种久违的共鸣。

  • 158 Days by Wo Shi Bai. Swipe to read.

  • After every shower, I have to wipe the floor dry.

  • My bathroom has a slanted floor, so a lot of the water ends up not going down the drain.

  • The carpenter didn’t realize this until after he finished laying all the floor tiles.

  • He said: (Sorry about that).

  • It takes me five minutes to dry the floor every single day.

  • Over the course of a year, that adds up to 76 hours.

  • Over 50 years, that adds up to 158 days.

  • 158 days…

  • In Interstellar, there was a planet where the entire surface was covered in shallow water.

  • If I had to wipe water off the floor without any sleep or rest for 158 days straight, I’d imagine the scene would look something like that.

  • (Drip drip)

  • This is some kind of punishment.

  • It’s a sentence passed down to me by that carpenter.

  • To be precise, it’s the result of him mentally checking out for a moment.

  • Some stray thought that distracted him.

  • (A-choo!)

Weibo: ~/WoShiBai
Douban: ~/WoShiBai
WeChat: WoShiBai

 

Contributor: Dawen Ding


微博: ~/WoShiBai
豆瓣: ~/WoShiBai
微信: WoShiBai

 

供稿人: Dawen Ding

Job Opportunities at Neocha Neocha 开放职缺

March 26, 2018 2018年3月26日

We’re always on the lookout for new talents to join us in our mission. If you’re someone who wants to flex their creativity in a fun and exciting work environment, we want you!


我们在寻找新的创意人才!如果你需要一个可以让你大肆施展创意的地方,也喜欢在富有弹性、好玩、具有挑战性的环境中工作,那 Neocha 需要你!

At the heart of any creative community are inspiring people and places whose stories deserve to be told. Our online magazine tells these stories to a global audience on a bilingual platform that showcases Asia’s burgeoning creative class. We welcome curious storytellers who share this vision and are looking to grow their career in an exciting, inspiring environment!

To find out about career opportunities with our online magazine, click here.


任何创意平台的核心,都是那些具有启发性和故事性的人和地方。Neocha 杂志就是通过多种语言,向全世界展示来自亚洲地区飞速发展的创意群体的故事。我们欢迎任何眼光前瞻并期望在富有激情的创业环境中工作的应征者!

了解更多,请点击此处

 

In addition to our magazine, our creative agency is a passionate, full-service team focused on achieving ambitious ideas and inspired storytelling for the most forward-thinking brands in the world. We welcome any candidates who share this vision and are looking to grow their career in an exciting, entrepreneurial environment!

To learn more about career opportunities at our creative agency, click here.


除了网络杂志,新茶也是一个充满激情的创意机构。我们为全球最具前瞻性的品牌实现更出奇的想法,建立更深远的影响力。我们欢迎任何眼光前瞻并期望在富有激情的创业环境中工作的应征者!​​

了解更多,请点击此处

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Reaching New Heights w/ Zhou Yusi 上帝视角的俯瞰

March 26, 2018 2018年3月26日

Based in Shenzhen, Zhou Yusi (or better known by his Instagram handle @ucchow) is a Chinese photographer who finds himself captivated by the rapid development of modern cities. His photography, comprised of awe-inspiring aerial perspectives and geometric structures, captures the chaotic beauty of China and surrounding regions. “I like cities where the new and the old clash together,” Zhou shares. “Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are great examples of this.”


来自深圳的摄影师周于斯(@ucchow),是个善于捕捉“上帝视角”的摄影博主。他的作品聚焦于城市建筑的主题,通过城市风光和建筑结构等拍摄,展现既有摩天大楼之现代,又有市井生活之怀旧的城市,比如香港、上海和深圳。这些城市高速发展的魄力与美,像谜一样吸引着他,也指引着他,一次次从高空俯瞰。

Zhou confesses that he didn’t plan on being a photographer in the beginning. Originally, he went to school to be a software developer, and at the time, he couldn’t even afford a proper DSLR. After graduating and buying his first real camera, he began shooting events and live performances, which, admittedly, weren’t especially creatively stimulating. However, as time went on, his interest in photography continued to grow.

The willingness to keep an open mind has been one of the most important factors in Zhou’s creative journey. Keeping an open mind has helped Zhou tremendously in not only his photography; it’s benefited him in nearly all aspects of life and has given him a refreshing perspective on his unconventional journey to success. “For regular people, they might look back and wish they could’ve seen the bigger picture beforehand or have a clear plan for the future. Not me though,” he tells us. “I revisited my university recently, and even though it’s been four or five years since I graduated and the world has changed so much, the school was the same as it ever was. It’s still out of touch with the real world, and in an environment like that, it’s easy to feel complacent and difficult to think outside of the box. If I had the chance [to give advice to my past self], I wouldn’t tell myself to change a thing.”


也许很难想象到,周于斯也是个“半路出家”的摄影师。他在大学时期学习的是软件工程,也就是俗称的“码农”。转行的契机源于毕业后,他终于有钱买了单反。随之才得以常常在音乐现场拍摄乐手们的演出,由此渐渐踏入摄影这个领域。

回望大学时代,周于斯的感慨显得有些特别:“一般人可能会对过去说,做事情要有眼界、格局之类的。然而现实是,前段时间我回去学校,发现虽然自己毕业已经四五年,外面的社会天翻地覆,学校仍是那个象牙塔,它什么都没变。其实在那种安逸环境中,是很难有大的格局和视野的。也许(我会对曾经的自己说)就继续虚度光阴吧。”的确,无论是摄影、工作还是社会生活,只有走上更宽的道路,登上更高的台阶,才能拥有更广的视野。

Following the purchase of his first drone, Zhou fell in love with taking photos from above. He says piloting a drone makes him feel like a “satellite, drifting idly above and watching the world beneath.” But with his drone, he does more than simply observe. Zhou likens the role of a drone photographer to that of a film director; much like a director, he has the control to frame specific scenes as he sees fit and present a narrative in line with his vision. While the drone is a great tool in his arsenal, what’s even more important than the tool is the creative output that can be achieved with it. It’s this understanding that motivates Zhou to continuously push himself and reach for new creative heights.


而真正意义上上帝视角的形成,是后来的事情。周于斯接触到了无人机拍摄,他笑称自己观看世界的视角,如今已渐渐变成了习惯从卫星地图去看周围生活的地方,因为那样可让他像电影导演一样,去掌控这个城市的画面。所谓会当凌绝顶,一览众山小”——或许吸引周于斯的,也正是这种凌空一切的观感。

“For me, exploration means finding new perspectives, even in parts of the city I’m familiar with,” Zhou shares of his creative philosophies. “It’s not just about hitting rooftops and shooting the same things aimlessly. It’s about discovering the beauty of a street I might’ve pass by countless times before or seeing an apartment or office building in a new light. By presenting unique perspectives of these familiar places, I want people to go, ‘Wow! I can’t believe this is what my neighborhood looks like.'”


探索,意味着在我们生活着的平凡城市,发现不一样的角度。它不只是在楼顶一模一样的位置拍下相同的风景,而是在每个平凡的街道,每天生活的公寓或者写字楼,通过探索发现特别的角度,让大家觉得,原来我们家附近还有这么一个地方!”

Zhou has now fully dedicated himself to both videography and photography but expresses a newfound preference in the former. “Photo editing is much faster. It can take only an hour or so. When it comes to video, it could take up to a day or much more. With the amount of time these two mediums take up, it’s hard to keep going if I wasn’t passionate. But the biggest difference between the two is that videos are much more elaborate. While you need to pay attention to many of the same things you have to watch out for in photography, you also need to consider the plot, storytelling cadence, transitions, sound design, and much more.”

Looking towards the future, Zhou expresses hopes of creating more travel-related video content. But regardless of medium, an earnest enthusiasm to share his adventures and showcase the beauty of our modern metropolises lives on in his work.


现在的周于斯用心经营着自媒体,对外输出着自己拍摄的图像和视频。他曾说:修图只需一小时,而剪视频要花上整整一天时间。如果不是热爱,很难坚持下来。两者比较,其实周于斯更倾向于视频创作。“最大的区别在于,照片是静止的,视频是动态的。除了照片所拥有的一切要求以外,视频还要具备情节、运镜、节奏、音乐等,可以说是更高维度的创作。”周于斯希望,未来能投入更多时间在旅行和影像上面,用宏观视角拍摄和纪录时,也就更能用心去体会各个城市的气质与魄力。

Instagram: @ucchow
Weibo: ~/UC大人

 

Contributor: Chen Yuan


Instagram: @ucchow
微博: ~/UC大人

 

供稿人: Chen Yuan

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Our Digital Selves 我创造了ins,还是ins创造了我?

March 23, 2018 2018年3月23日

Currently based in New York, John Yuyi is a Taiwanese artist who was launched into the spotlight following the success of her FACE POST project. FACE POST was a photo series in which she affixed temporary transfer tattoos of old photos on the faces and bodies of herself and her friends. The idea of using temporary tattoos in this project would become the springboard for Yuyi’s now-signature aesthetic. And today – having completed multiple collaborations with luxury fashion brands and a successful solo exhibition in New York – Yuyi has proven herself a force to be reckoned with in the international art scene.


John Yuyi(江宥仪)是来自台湾、现在在纽约生活的艺术家。在早先的《FACE POST》系列里,她将自己上传过的照片做成纹身贴纸,转印在脸和身体上,这样有趣又前所未见的作品形式让她开始受到广大的关注。艺术生涯还很年轻,但 John Yuyi 已经在纽约办过个人展览、收过来自国际品牌的合作邀约。面对一步一步逐渐堆叠的名气,她始终维持自己稳定前进的步调,在创作路上不改依然故我的态度。

Throughout Yuyi’s works, the internet is one of the most prevalent topics explored. In this age of interconnectivity, our computers and phones have become invaluable devices that connect us with the world at large, and social media is a large part of the internet ecosystem. However, social media has proven itself to be a double-edged blade for many artists: Social media can be beneficial in bringing attention to the works of up-and-coming artists, but the quest for bigger followings and more “likes” can easily lead to self-imposed creative stagnation.

Today, rather than simply being spaces to share and communicate ideas with others, social media has come to define our identity. People meticulously curate posts to project a flawless digital persona, “likes” on social media have become metrics to measure our value as individuals, and many, like Yuyi, can find that differentiating between our real self and digital self has become increasingly difficult. Cognizant of these issues, much of Yuyi’s works – which is often jam-packed with symbols from Twitter, Instagram, and other notable platforms – serve as a reminder, or perhaps a warning, of this over-reliance on social media.


在现今这个人人与网络紧密连结的世代里,手机成为我们观看外在的窗口。对艺术家来说,网络媒体的存在像是双面刃,能让作品轻易且有效的曝光,反过来却也可能就此限制住自己。

在 John Yuyi 的创作中,Instagram 和 Twitter 是频繁出现的符码。社交网络不单单作为她发佈作品的平台,甚至是创作的素材、灵感的发源地。有些时候,社交网络完全定义了我们,我们依靠一张张照片和一则则发言来拼凑别人眼中的自己,久而久之越来越脱离不了。社交网络确实操控了我们的生活,某种程度上我们都像是为了网络上自己的分身而活。John Yuyi 的作品作为一个提醒,让我们开始反思这样荒唐的现况。

As someone who recognizes her own dependence on social media, Yuyi confesses that the line between an influencer and an artist can seem blurred at times. It’s something that she herself often struggles to differentiate. The goals for an online influencer and an artist do admittedly have certain overlaps. While they’re both seeking recognition to some extent, their motivations are drastically different. For an online influencer, they’re marketing themselves as the intended product, but for an artist, their creations are the intended product. “In the past, I’d think about how many ‘likes’ I can get on my uploads,” she shares of her former insecurities. “But now, I don’t think about it like that. My content isn’t catered for Instagram. I create for myself.”


网红与网络艺术家,同样都是在吸引网民的目光,本质上却不太一样——前着借的是自己,后者借的是创作。John Yuyi 承认自己曾经非常依赖网络媒体,在两者模煳不清的分界之间,花上了一段时间来确立自己的定位。“以前的我会常常去猜想 po 这张照片能获得多少喜欢,但现在的我尽量不这么做,不为了 Instagram 去设计内容,而是以 ‘自己’ 为出发点去创作。”

Aside from her internet-inspired works, Yuyi’s approach of using temporary tattoos and human bodies as canvases continues in her other projects. Often times, ideas simply come from her day-to-day life, whether it be a sentence from a book she’s reading or lyrics from a song she just heard. Yuyi’s success as an artist comes from her talents of recognizing these hidden stories – her works present these overlooked stories as they are, but her visual approach adds the context required for her audience to fully appreciate these observations. “I find a lot of inspiration in my daily life,” she tells us. “I think of creating art like writing a journal. It’s simply a summary of all that I see and experience.”


之后 John Yuyi 持续蒐集符号和标誌,有时是书里读到的一段情节、或一段喜欢的歌词,灵感的足迹遍佈生活各处的小细节。“我的灵感都来自我的生活,创作对我来说像在写日记一样,我只是把我看到的、我想到的、我所在的世界记录下来。” 她用既已存在的故事来说故事,来自一双比常人更细腻、更专注的眼睛,这些事物早就存在在那,只是你我从未发现而已。在她的小世界里,没有什么是不合时宜。

Humbly, Yuyi says the successful conclusion of her debut solo exhibition in New York was the best birthday present she could’ve received this year. The next stop for her will be Los Angeles where she’ll host her second-ever solo exhibition, My (Temporary) Self. The exhibition will debut at Make Room on March 24th, 2018 and run until April 22nd, 2018.


John Yuyi 向我们开心的说今年的生日礼物,是顺利在纽约举行的第一场个人展览。而下一站她要前往洛杉矶,带着第二场个展《MY (TEMPORARY) SELF》于 2018 年 3 月 24 日至 4 月 22 日期间,在 Make Room 跟大家见面。

EventMY (TEMPORARY) SELF
Opening: Saturday, March 24, 2018, 6 ~ 9 pm
Exhibition Dates: March 24, 2018 ~ April 22, 2018

 

Address:
Make Room
1035 N Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90012
United States of America

 

Website: www.johnyuyi.com
Instagram: @johnyuyi

 

Contributor: Yang Yixuan


活动名称: MY (TEMPORARY) SELF
开幕时间: 星期六,2018年3月24日,下午6点至9点
展览日期: 2018年3月24日—2018年4月22日

 

地址:
美国
加州 洛杉矶
1035 N Broadway
Make Room

 

网站: www.johnyuyi.com
Instagram@johnyuyi

 

供稿人: Yang Yixuan

Valley of the Pandas 你不曾了解的熊猫谷

March 22, 2018 2018年3月22日

The early snow caught us off guard. It would have been romantic, comedic even, but for the full day of relentless rain before it.

Now the rain turned to ice. The dropping temperature bit through our soaked layers and skin, and freezing crystals tumbled their way down our necks. The others argued whether to go left or right in the immense undergrowth – for there was no path – and I quietly retreated into my own mental tomb of misery, stowing away my waterlogged and useless camera for good.


一场突如其来的早雪让我们有点措手不及。这本来挺浪漫的,甚至可以说还有点喜剧性,但偏偏在此之前已经整整下了一天的雨。

现在雨结成了冰。骤然下降的温度渗入我们湿透的衣服和皮肤,冰冷的雪花钻进我们的脖子。在大片的灌木丛中,有人在讨论到底要往左还是往右走,因为地上根本没有路。而我则陷入郁闷的心情中,小心翼翼地藏好已经浸满水、派不上用场的相机。

Zuǒ háishì yòu?” Left or right, they repeated, as if saying the same question once more would make the answer reveal itself out of the damp cold.

Zuǒ. That was the thin consensus, its logic hidden deep within the incomprehensible tones of rural Sichuanese dialect. They moved forward towards the left, one by one willingly entering back into the snow-laden bamboo. Its depths swallowed them each. I sighed, placed all my faith into this exercise of blind trust and tossed myself back into the barricade of mountain woods.

Misery had been what I expected, not getting lost.

We stopped again. More agitated Sichuanese. More brushing off snow from our bodies and packs. Someone close by shivered uncontrollably head to toe; another cut wet stalks of bamboo for kindling; another tried futilely to start a fire with damp tissue and matches. No fire, but my hands and feet burned. The painful beginning of frostbite had set. We were freezing, and the argument as to which way to go continued.


“左还是右”他们反复问道仿佛再说一遍同样的问题,答案就会在这片潮湿寒冷的环境中自动现身。

左。这其实不算很确定的共识,选左边的原因隐藏在他们难懂的四川农村方言的讨论中。我们的队伍朝左前进,一个接一个重新踏入那片覆盖着白雪的竹林。一个个身影陆续隐没在幽深的竹林中。我叹了口气,孤注一掷般地选择相信他们,重新投身山林间去。

我早已预料到这趟旅程会困难重重,但没想到我们会迷路。

队伍又停了下来。又是一轮听上去很激动的四川话。我们再一次掸掉身上和行李上的积雪。有人从头到脚冷得发颤;有人用湿的竹子试图点火;还有人徒劳地开始用受潮的纸和火柴生火。火没生成,但我的手和脚却感到了烧灼感。冻伤的痛苦开始了。我们实在太冷了,但关于走哪个方向的争论还在继续。

These were some of the most arduous moments during our three-day panda conservation patrol in the Hengduan Mountains of China. Our team of ethnic Tibetans in Sichuan entered the woods with the goal of checking infrared cameras that monitor pandas and other rare species like the musk deer and Himalayan takin. Next to that, we had to prevent their greatest threats: the warding off of would-be poachers and illegal logging of the state and provincial-owned forest for timber and expansion of arable land. The presence of officials from the local forestry department with us would give authority to our mission if we encountered any.


这是我们在中国横断山脉为期三天的巡逻期间最为艰巨的时刻。队伍中来自四川的藏民扎进树林检查红外线探测相机,这些摄像机用以观测熊猫和其他稀有动物,比如麝鹿和喜马拉雅羚牛。除此之外,我们还必须提防着最大的威胁:阻止潜在的动物偷猎者和对国家及省属森林的非法砍伐行为。如果我们遇到任何问题,和我们一起的来自当地林业部门的官员,将授于我们官方权威(来处理)。

This patrol should have been routine, but our luck turned with the weather and a wrong turn almost cost us much more than merely a day of time. Our work turned from not only protecting the flora and fauna of the mountains to protecting our safe return home.

After the snow, we descended waterfalls, using live bamboo stalks to repel down cliffs as streams cascaded beside us. At night we made shelter in a dripping cave, once a hideout for poachers who used to hunt the forests seeking the same thing we now labored to protect. We made fire, chipping off wet wood from large, fallen trees and branches, finally using the dry interiors as kindling. The dim cave walls danced with warm, orange glow and the deluge outside which delayed our return home continued.


这次巡逻本该是例行公事,但我们的运气好坏听“天”由命,天气倘若变脸,我们浪费的就不只是一天的时间。我们的工作已不仅仅是保护山区的动植物,更需要保护自身安全以回到营地。

我记得下完雪后,我们开始沿瀑布飞泻的山崖下山,用天然的竹子作为支撑,而悬崖溪流就在我们身边飞流而下。晚上我们在一个滴水的山洞里休息,这里曾经是偷猎者的藏身之处,他们偷猎的对象则是我们现在努力要保护的对象。我们生起了火,砍掉树干和树枝潮湿的部分,终于用干燥的内芯燃起柴火。昏暗的山洞和温暖炽橙的火焰一起舞动起来,外面的洪流也推迟了我们继续往回走的进程。

Pandas are one of the world’s most iconic, elusive species. Their remaining numbers in the wild are no more than a small town, less than 2000. Of this, the majority of them dwell in the Hengduan Mountains of China. And, more than anywhere else in the Hengduan, Pingwu County of Sichuan Province.


这种世界上最具代表性的和难以捉摸的动物之一,熊猫,它们野生的数量比小城镇的人口还少,只剩不到 2000 只。大部分的野生熊猫都生活在中国的横断山脉,其中,四川省平武县是横断山脉地区熊猫数量最多的地方。

Rangers of the patrol gather around to look at GPS coordinates of the locations of cameras placed in the mountains. Every month they go up in the mountains to check the infrared cameras, replace batteries, and install new ones in the forest where they think wildlife might be. / 巡逻者们聚集在一起查看山上红外线摄像机的 GPS 坐标。他们每个月都会上山对相机进行检查并更换电池,并在野生动物可能出没的地方安装上新相机。

Our team was a small collective of ethnic Tibetan villagers from the remote Pingwu County village of Guanba. Guanba isn’t on most maps. It lies hidden away in a precipitous mountain valley that winds its way along river and wood to snow-covered peaks around Jiuzhaigou. But this remote village is a foremost player in the rise of community conservation in China.

Young natives of Guanba who once served as migrant workers around China have been trickling back to this village for the last 10 years. They have returned not only to raise families in their place of birth, but also from a growing sense of environmental consciousness and responsibility to protect the land around their home. In the 70s poaching in the Hengduan Mountains was rampant, and one charismatic species’ pelt brought a particular amount of prestige and profit: the panda.


我们的团队是一群从平武县一个偏僻小村——关坝来的藏族村民。在大多数地图上,甚至都没有标注关坝这个地方。关坝位于一个陡峭的山谷中,这条山谷沿河流和树林蜿蜒伸展,直至九寨沟附近冰雪覆盖的山峰。但是,这个偏僻的村庄是在中国兴起的林区保护地区中最重要的一处。

在过去的 10 年间,曾经进城务工的关坝年轻人纷纷回归。他们回来,不仅是要为了回到家乡组建家庭,更是出于他们日益强烈的环保意识和保护家园的责任感。70 年代,横断山脉的偷猎活动十分猖獗,其中一种动物的皮毛因为珍贵和高利润而成为了偷猎的目标,那就是熊猫。

Pandas in China were poached near the edge of extinction. Foreigners even came to hunt them, with the Roosevelt brothers proudly claiming the first successful panda hunt by Westerners in 1929. Finally, by the 1980s, the number of pandas remaining in the wild neared only 1000, and the national government made all poaching illegal. All the men from a neighboring village to Guanba were charged with illegal poaching and incarcerated. Fast forward to the present, and the national and local government is increasingly supporting environmental protection efforts, including the creation of a state-managed national park that will encompass almost all of the panda’s habitat.

It is under this background that the villagers of Guanba founded the region’s first community nature reserve in 2015. The reserve, while approved by the government, is solely managed by the local people, of whom the effort is led by the millennials who have come back from working remotely far across the country. While the area they protect behind their home village is only 40km wide, it is now home to four or five pandas, one of the highest densities for the species in all China.

However, hunters who create homemade guns and gunpowder still enter into these mountains, and while pandas are no longer hunted, rare takin and white-lipped deer are. These mountains, once a sanctuary for all sorts of wildlife, now lie silent. The forests still seem empty, and the rivers are devoid of fish. The recovery process has begun, but nature requires time.


在中国,大熊猫因为偷猎活动而几近濒危。不啻国内偷猎猖獗,甚至还有专门前来的外国人,在 1929 年,罗斯福兄弟(Roosevelt brothers)就曾自豪地声称他们是第一次成功狩猎大熊猫的外国人。到 20 世纪 80 年代,野生大熊猫的数量已减少到近 1000 只,中国政府下令将所有偷猎行为定为非法。关坝一个邻村里的所有男子都被控非法偷猎而被关押起来。

到如今,国家和地方政府给予了环保方面越来越多的支持,包括建立了一个由中央政府管理的国家公园,这个公园几乎涵盖了所有的大熊猫栖息地。

在这种背景下,关坝村民在 2015 年创办了当地第一个社区自然保护部。这个保护部虽然是由政府批准的,但其管理完全由当地居民负责,而其中的领头人则是一些曾远赴千里进城打工,现在回到家乡的千禧一代。他们负责的保护区在村庄背后,面积仅 40 平方千米,但现在却是四五只大熊猫的家园,这已经中国大熊猫密度最高的地区之一。

然而,并不是当地人都已经放弃了用自制枪支偷猎的行为。仍然有人会用自制的枪和火药进入这些山区,即使大熊猫不再被猎杀,珍稀的羚牛和白唇鹿仍然未能逃过厄运。这些山脉曾是各种野生动物的天堂,现在却寂静肃杀。森林像是一片荒芜,河流里也找不到鱼的踪影。大自然的恢复虽已开始,但整个过程还需要时间。

One of the cameras with infrared capabilities placed on a tree. Even though the straps securing it to the tree have been undone, moss has grown and fixed the camera to the tree. Due to the extremely humid and rainy conditions, plants in this part of the Hengduan grow quickly. / 一个安装在树上的红外线探测相机。尽管安装的绑带还未完全固定,但苔藓已经长牢,且把相机固定在了树干上。因为这里极端潮湿多雨的气候,横断山脉的植物生长速度很快。
These cameras use the same SD cards as regular cameras, so the photos can be checked on-site even if the batteries of the infrared cameras area already dead. / 红外线探测相机使用和普通相机一样的 SD 储存卡,所以即使在相机没电的情况下也能够检查里面的相片。

Still, it was this heroic recovery story that kept me fighting through the endless forest of thorns and wet bamboo. A village whose natives had turned from poachers to protectors was a story too enticing not to investigate and share. In response to the ever-present threat of outside poachers, the Guanba Community Nature Reserve patrols the mountains monthly and have been doing so since 2009. But even the best-laid plans go awry. A wrong turn up a ravine early on led us up to an unknown section of the mountain. An early cold snap turned the rain to snow, and we found ourselves in a position that – although the locals may be too proud to admit – could have cost us our lives. Being cold and wet with no shelter can often mean death up in the mountains.


不过,正是这一鼓舞人心的保护区事迹,让我坚持着在这片布满荆棘和湿竹的森林里奋斗。村庄居民从当初的偷猎者转变为保护者,这样的身份转变着实让人忍不住想要深入调查,并与外人分享。为了应对外界偷猎者的威胁,从 2009 年起,关坝自然保护部门每月定期巡逻山林。

不过,有时再好的计划也不一定能顺利达成。之前在溪谷拐错了弯,导致我们在山上迷了路。提前降临的寒流,让雨水变成冰雪,虽然当地人可能怕丢脸不肯承认,但这一次我们确实让自己陷入了生命危险的威胁。寒冷、潮湿、无所遮蔽,这在山上往往意味着死亡。

At last we returned safely. The patrol was a success. We discovered no signs of poachers or their traps, a sign that the frequent patrols were working, and recovered a photo of one of the wild pandas on an infrared camera. To document this, my gear had paid the price: the Nikon body was focusing poorly, all the internal lens elements of my glass were fogged, and one my of filters had been jammed after hitting my lens on an protruding rock. After spending a night freezing in the wet cave my bed was more than a welcome sight, but I was emotionally spent from fighting through the forest. The fear of real disaster far beyond my gear for three days had drained me.

But those days cannot compare to the years that the locals have been entering the mountains for this cause. When it comes to protecting your home and the environment that supports you, there is little luxury for choice. In the brutal moments of snow falling around us, seemingly lost on a forlorn mountain ridge I was ready to give up. I would have turned back; they did not. In that moment it became evident: this is what conservation looks like. It’s dirty, it’s a mess, but it’s a real adventure. And always worth it.


幸好,最后我们安全返回。这次的巡逻很成功,我们没有发现偷​​猎者或捕猎陷阱的迹象,这意味着频繁的巡逻工作确实卓有成效,不仅如此,在一部红外线探测相机上,我们还捕捉到了一只野生大熊猫的照片。为了记录这一次的工作,我的设备付出了代价:尼康相机已经很难对焦;内部镜头元件被雾化;在我不小心把镜头撞到突出的岩石后,其中一块滤镜也已经卡住了。在潮湿阴冷的山洞里住了一夜后,能睡在家里的床上成为了我最期待的事情,也是我精神上的支柱。在这次穿越森林的战斗中,那种对远超于器材损坏的真正灾难的心理恐惧,在这三天里让我精疲力尽。

但是,和当地人多年来进入山区的工作相比,这三天算不上什么。一旦涉及保护家园和所处环境的问题,本该义无反顾。我们此行面临最艰难的时刻,莫过于当白雪纷纷落下,而我们似乎在一座荒凉的山脊迷了路,这时的我几乎已经准备放弃。如果只身一人的话,当时的我可能已经原路返回,但他们没有。在那一刻,这就成了显而易见的事实:这就是环境保护工作的真实面貌。这项工作就会风尘仆仆、满身狼藉,但它也是一场真正的冒险。而且是有价值的冒险。

Images of wildlife taken from the cameras placed throughout the mountains. / 由遍布全山的相机所拍下的野生动物照片。
Images of wildlife taken from the cameras placed throughout the mountains. / 由遍布全山的相机所拍下的野生动物照片。
Images of wildlife taken from the cameras placed throughout the mountains. / 由遍布全山的相机所拍下的野生动物照片。

In the past, Guanba had another name: bai xiong gou, or, the “Valley of the Pandas.” The road ahead will not be easy for the young conservationists who have returned here, but, as China examines how to build a national park in an area with permanent residents and villages, the positive participation of locals for conservation has never been more important, nor has sharing their story. From poachers to protectors, the young villagers are building a new future for their community and conservation in China.


在过去,关坝有另一个名字“白熊沟”。对于那些选择返乡的年轻环保主义者来说,往前的路并非坦途,然而,随着中国进一步在研究如何在永久居民和村庄地区建立国家公园的项目,当地人对环境保护事业的积极参与,比任何时候都更加重要。与人分享他们的故事也同样如此。从偷猎者到保护者,年轻的村民正在为他们社区以及中国的环保事业,塑造一个崭新的未来。

Mengji, the captain of the patrol team, holds up a successfully captured photo of a wild panda from one of the infrared cameras. / 巡逻队的队长孟吉,举着一个成功拍下野生熊猫的红外线探测相机。

Contributor & Photographer: Kyle Obermann


供稿人与摄影师: Kyle Obermann

Have a Nice Day 《大世界》

March 21, 2018 2018年3月21日

 

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Have a Nice Day is the latest animated dark comedy film from writer and director Liu Jian. Set in a small town in Southern China, the film starts with Xiao Zhang, a driver who steals a bag containing 1 million RMB from his mob boss in order to pay for his fiancée’s botched plastic surgery. As word of Xiao Zhang’s robbery spreads across town, a motley cast of the city’s residents join in on the hunt for the stolen money, each with their own dreams of making it big.


大世界》是作家兼导演刘健的最新黑色喜剧动画电影。影片故事发生在中国南方的一个小镇上,电影一开始,司机小张为了给未婚妻一笔钱去做拙劣的整形手术,从他的流氓老板那里偷走了 100 万元的巨款。小张的抢劫案传遍了整个小镇,当地的居民开始加入对被盗巨款的追捕中来,每一个人都怀有自己的大梦想。

The animation for Have a Nice Day was done mostly by Liu, who spent about three years completing the film. Liu brings a bleak and melancholic aesthetic to the film’s small-town Chinese setting and its shady cast of characters. Sharing his thoughts on creating the film, Liu says: “My favorite artistic style, and in fact, my artistic philosophy, is plain and simple. In this film, I use the minor actions and subtle movements of the characters to portray their emotions, which, along with the vivid landscapes and interiors the characters exist in, constitute the poetic, and, in some sense, sad and melancholic aesthetic philosophy of the film. In my eyes, this film as a whole can be seen as a landscape painting representing modern China.”


《大世界》的动画大部分由刘健完成的,整部电影耗时大约三年的时间完成。刘健有意让影片中的中国小镇和里面的角色都充满一种荒凉而忧郁的美学风格。谈及创作这部电影时的想法,刘健说:“我最喜欢的艺术风格,实际上也是我的艺术哲学,那就是简单明了。在这部电影中,我运用人物的细节动作来诠释他们的情感,加上对周边环境和人物所在的室内环境的生动描画,构成了这部影片诗意式的,以及在某种意义上,悲伤和忧郁的审美哲学。在我看来,这部电影可以被视为是一幅描绘现代中国的画像。”

Multiple references to contemporary events – such as audio sampled from Donald Trump’s campaign trail, or a remark about Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Ma – tie the film to our present-day reality and make it all the more engaging for a modern-day audience. Liu says, “Have a Nice Day is an animation film, but it’s penetrated through and through with the philosophy of realism. […] There are so many uncertainties and possibilities to be imagined in such a dynamic and lively space like the city’s borderlands. What some might call surrealism is often the reality there, and that is fascinating to me in itself. I love to observe and reflect on how people there are living, thinking, and acting. The cultural landscapes of the city’s edges and the people who live there are one of the main sources and inspirations for my work. At the same time, the coexistence of realism and symbolism emphasizes the fantasy and the absurdity of these characters and their stories. In modern China, magical realism is happening around us almost every day. Life at times can resemble a surreal comedy that is filled with both jubilance and self-paralysis.”


影片当中多次对当代事件的进行了引用,例如从唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)选活动中采集的音频,或者关于马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)或马云的评论,以此将这部电影与我们今天的现实联系起来,使其更加吸引观众。刘健说:“《大世界》是一部动画电影,但它充满了现实主义的哲学……在城市边缘地区这样一个充满活力的热闹空间中,有许多不确定性和可能性令人遐想。在一些人眼中的超现实主义,在那里却往往是现实的存在,这本身对我来说就是很有意思的事情。我喜欢观察并思考人们是如何生活、思考和行动的。城市边缘的文化,以及那里生活的人是我创作时最大的灵感来源。同时,现实主义与象征主义的并存,又突显了这些人物以及他们的故事的奇幻与荒诞。在现代中国,魔幻现实主义几乎每天都在我们身边发生。生活有时像是一部充满欢乐和自我麻木的超现实主义喜剧片。”

Have a Nice Day won the award for Best Animation at the 54th annual Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, Taiwan, and has received worldwide critical acclaim for its neo-noir storytelling, gritty visuals, and penetrating depiction of modern-day Chinese society. Aside from the engrossing story and aesthetic, the film also features music from The Shanghai Restoration Project.

Have a Nice Day will be screening in theatres in the UK beginning on March 23rd, 2018. For more information on dates and locations, click here.


在第 54 届台湾金马奖颁奖典礼上,《大世界》斩获最佳动画长片奖,并因其新黑色的叙事风格、粗犷的视觉效果以及对现代中国的深入描绘,获得了来自全球的赞誉。另外值得一提的是,除了抓人的故事情节和视觉美学的呈现,《大世界》的电影配乐来自乐队上海复兴方案

影片将于 2018 年3月23日 在英国院线上映。了解更多,请点击此处

Website: haveaniceday.mubi.com

 

Contributor: George Zhi Zhao


网站: haveaniceday.mubi.com

 

供稿人: George Zhi Zhao

Visual Metaphors w/ Wenting Li

March 20, 2018 2018年3月20日
Travellers: For the Parallel show at Light Grey Art Lab. / "旅行者":为《Parallel》在 Light Grey 艺术实验室的展览而创作的插画。

Wenting Li is a Chinese Canadian illustrator based out of Toronto. Her work is preoccupied with color and movement, the relationship between shapes, and the subtleties of complementing stories with imagery. As a young artist, she’s already established an impressive list of clients including The Globe and Mail, TED, Reader’s Digest, and The New York Times.


Wenting Li 是来自加拿大的华裔插画师,目前居住多伦多。她的作品专注于色彩与动态、形状之间的关系以及用图片补充故事的微妙之处。虽然还是个年轻的艺术家,但 Wenting 已经建立了一系列大客户群,比如《环球邮报》、TED、《读者文摘》和《纽约时报》。

Diving into Memory: As we remember things, we also alter the integrity of a memory. An illustration for Quebec Science. / “潜入回忆”:当我们记住事情的时候,我们也改变了一段记忆的完整性。为《Quebec Science》创作的插画。
Head Full of Memories: What we've come to know about the inner workings of memory. An illustration for Quebec Science. / “充满回忆的头脑”:我们已经知道了记忆的内在运作。为《Quebec Science》创作的插画。

Describing her personal work, Li tells us: “[It’s] especially focused on aesthetics but also on things I can’t think of words for and nebulous things like feelings.”

In contrast, her client work is more structured and goal-oriented. Li says, “Client work for me is about trying to map a prompt, such as an article, a story, or a concept, against the mess of visual connections unique to my head. I’m interested in visual metaphors, quiet moments, momentum, mystery, and how a drawing can open into parallel dimensions where things gesture at what they look like ordinarily, but their outlines are malleable.”


对于个人创作理念,Wenting 和我们说:“(我的作品)主要关注美学,以及我无法用语言描绘的事情,譬如像感觉这样含糊不清的事物。”

相比之下,她受客户委托创作的作品会更结构化,目标的导向更明确。她说:“给客户创作就像是在我自己脑袋一大堆乱七八糟的视觉联系中,试图让思维映射出一个主题,比如像是一篇文章、一个故事或一个概念。让我感兴趣的是那些视觉隐喻、安静氛围、动力张力和某种神秘的气质,尤其是看着画面里的事物映射着平凡的日常,但它们的轮廓却具有了可塑性,呈现出一个平行空间,这特别让我着迷。”

A Seat at the Table: Encouraging North American companies to become more diverse workplaces. An illustration for Corporate Knights. / "桌前一座":鼓励北美的公司工作场所变得更加多元化。为《Corporate Knights》创作的插画。
Winnipeg Beach: For a grown son's personal essay remembering his father. An illustration for The Globe and Mail. / “温尼伯海滩”:一个已长大的儿子写个人散文以回忆他的父亲。为《环球邮报》创作的插画。
Daughter: An unpublished piece on the burden of responsibility in elder care for The Walrus. / “女儿”:给《The Walrus》创作的还未发表的作品,关于养老责任重担的问题。

Wenting shares with us a story behind Constants, one of her recent illustrations for PLANADVISER, a trade magazine that, surprisingly, has established a reputation among artists as a platform for wildly conceptual illustration despite its technical content. Wenting says, “When I get the chance to work with PLANADVISER, I always try to let my subconscious go rampant. Some of the other sketches for this assignment included motifs like a kitchen full of animals, a home on the back of a giant fish, a vertical city – the concept I was given to work with was ‘stability of steady flow of income.’ Usually, I send in three or four of my favorite sketches, a distillation of maybe six or seven ideas, and many more thumbnails. The concept we went with is a tea drinker ensconced in front of her fireplace, with an endless supply of firewood for boiling water for tea, which comes from an enormous tree growing through her window and into the house itself. It’s something that was fun to draw. I knew I wanted to color the illustration as a night scene with dark blues and purples and lighter pinks and greens as contrast, with a sort of interior “glowiness,” and that’s what carried through to the final.”


Wenting跟我们分享了创作《Constants》(《常量》)背后的故事。这是她为商业杂志《PLANADVISER》创作的插图之一,神奇的是,这本商业杂志在艺术家之间颇有声誉,不仅仅囊括技术性的内容,还被视为是概念插图的一个重要平台。Wenting解释:“当我知道可以和(《PLANADVISER》)合作时,我就会让自己的潜意识尽情发挥。 这次合作的其它主题还包括一个充满各种动物的厨房,一条巨型大鱼背上的房子,以及一个垂直城市,我拟下的主题是‘稳定收入带来稳定’。通常我会发三到四幅我最喜欢的草稿,六七个比较好的想法,以及更多缩略图。我们采用的概念是一个在躲在壁炉前喝茶的女人,不断添柴煮茶。烧柴的木材则来自一棵穿过她房子窗户、径直伸入房子内的擎天大树。这样的题材很有趣,也比较大胆。我想用夜景的深蓝和紫色来给插图上色,加上浅粉色和绿色作为对比,突显出一些内部的光芒感,这主题和方法贯穿始终。”

Capture the Future: Poster illustration for the RBC Amplify 2018 program. / "捕获未来":为 RBC Amplify 2018 计划的海报插图。
Constants: Maintaining a constant flow in income and a constant supply of firewood for tea. An illustration for Planadviser. / "常量":保持收入不变,为煮茶提供不间断的柴火。 给《Planadviser》的插图。

Although Wenting was born in China, she left the country at the age of four. She cites her parents as her primary ties to Chinese culture. “[My parents] are in some ways very Chinese in terms of food, values, language, and so on, but in other ways are quite ambivalent – we don’t really mark the major Lunar New Year’s holiday for example. Sometimes the culture I come from can feel like more of a series of quirks, and other times it is definitely like looking at the world from a very different angle.”

While her cultural background doesn’t directly influence her work, Wenting is always hungry to discover new perspectives about the world around her as a means of fueling her creativity. She shares some of her recent sources of inspiration: “I’ve been listening to The Paris Review podcast and there’s something really nice about listening to people read you stories and poems and talk about their output. I’m also still reading Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life & Others – I’m stuck on a particular story about automatons in a Victorian-esque setting that is crawling up my skin.”


虽然 Wenting 在中国出生,但她四岁时就离开了这个国家,在她看来,父母是她与中国文化之间最主要的纽带。“(我的父母) 在食物、价值观、语言等等方面都很中国化,但在其它方面又相当矛盾。譬如,像中国农历新年这样的重要节日我们也不会怎么过。有时候,我感觉自己所来自的文化更像是一系列奇怪的事物,有时,又像是换了一个非常不同的角度来看世界。”

但她的文化背景并没有直接影响到她的艺术创作,Wenting 一直渴望发掘出看待周遭世界的全新角度,以作为她艺术的养分。她分享了她最近的一些文学灵感来源:“我一直都有听《巴黎评论》(The Paris Review)播客,听听别人给你讲故事、读诗歌,谈论他们的想法,挺有意思的。我还在读姜峯楠(Ted Chiang)的《Stories of Your Life & Others》(《你及他人一生的故事》),我尤其喜欢其中一个维多利亚时代背景关于机器人的故事。这个故事看得我毛骨悚然。”

Cherry Beach: Catching the Perseids shower in Toronto. / “繁星海滩”:在多伦多的海滩撞见了英仙座流星雨。

Despite her natural talents and reputation as an up-and-coming illustrator, Wenting still faces her fair share of creative struggles. She tells us, “Coming up with ideas is frustrating but really fun. Sometimes I lie down on the couch and despair of ever having a good idea again. Kind of like running through pain, I just keep drawing through it. It’s also helpful to switch your brain to a different track for a while, like go for a walk or clean all the sinks in your basement. I also struggle with living a life apart from my creative life – but waiting for a less busy time to live your life is an endless wait.”


尽管有着出色的天赋,且已被公认为新晋的创意人才,但在插画工作上,Wenting仍然有自己的挣扎与苦恼。她与我们分享道:“创意构思的过程有时很令人沮丧,但也真的很有趣,有时我躺在沙发上,绝望到怀疑自己以后还能不能再想出好的创意。就像是在痛苦中奔跑,我只能在痛苦中不停地画画。当然,把大脑切换到一个不同的频道一段时间会有所帮助,譬如去散散步,或是清理一下地下室的水槽。我还希望可以让工作不那么忙碌,好好享受一下创作之外的生活,但是要等到这样的时候,不知道要等到何年何月了。”

The Garden of Memory: An illustrator for the "Roots" issue of Amator. / “记忆花园”:为《Amator》“Roots”期刊创作的插画。
Small: The not-good-enough plague that comes with living in the social media age. An illustration for Canadian Living. / “小”:生活在社交媒体时代所带来的“不够好”状态的瘟疫。为《Canadian Living》创作的插画。
Into the Fire: Prumsodun Ok and the formation of Cambodia's first all-male, gay-identified Khmer dance company. An illustration for TED. / “入火”:Prumsodun OK 和柬埔寨第一个全男性、定义为同性恋属性的高棉舞蹈公司。为 TED 创作的插画。
Rowing: Opposing ideological agendas stalling the Democratic Party. An illustration for The New York Times. / “划船”:民主党内部的反对声音,拖延了民主党的议程。为《纽约时报》创作的插画。
Adding Value: Growing a shared set of values while growing a team. An illustration for Intercom. / "增值":在发展团队的同时,也要发展一套共同的价值观。为 Intercom 所创作的插图。

Website: wentingli.com
Instagram: @wentingthings

 

Contributor: George Zhi Zhao


网站: wentingli.com
Instagram: @wentingthings

 

供稿人: George Zhi Zhao