Description

At the beginning of her travels to China in 1998, Rosemarie Zens found a predominantly agrarian multi-ethnic state and initially photographed mainly landscapes and everyday scenes in urban and rural situations that reminded her of pre-modern times in our Western world. Within a time-frame of twenty years, groundbreaking developments took place, such as the technical transition from analog to digital photography on the one hand, and a rapid structural change within Chinese society on the other. The memorable photographs show how China increasingly orients itself towards Western culture and how homogenizing forces such as science, technology and the global market influence individual life. On various levels, however, the images also bear witness to how the precarious developments reflect our own approach to the world, while traces of the spirituality of ancient Chinese culture can still be found in the style of the images..