Tabula Rasa
Tabula Rasa - transformations of Chinese neighbourhoods
Photographies by Boris Svartzman
During five years Boris Svartzman lived and travelled around China. Throughout his journeys he investigated a number of traditional neighbourhoods which today are threatened by demolition and are being replaced with large-scale building projects and skyscrapers.
The photographer Boris Svartzman is French with an Argentinean origin. Departing from his interest in China and its political system he studied both political philosophy, sociology, economy and Chinese litterature in France and China Svartzman regards photography and social studies as two complementary tools for describing and discussing the situation of the world and sees in the Chinese urbanisation process an expression for how China is reclaiming its position and power in both global politics and economy.
The result of his first journeys, between 2002 and 2005, is a series of black an white photographies which depicts the rapid change of Chinese cities and its building cultures. He later returned, 2006-2007, for a second visit, this time working with colour photography. The motives are mainly found in the cities of Shanghai, Chengdu and Canton.
The exhibition Tabula Rasa includes a selection of 21 pictures from both of these visits throughout China. Prior to the exhibition Boris Svatzman's photographies have been selected for the photo-festival "Visa pour l'Image" (2006 and 2008), and have also been published in the British magazine Foto8 and in several other international photo reviews.