Thursday, April 29, 2010

Augenblick , Profile : Peter Dixie

British Photographer Peter Dixie has explored the new "borders" of Shanghai by shooting photographs of each end of the metro stations.The project is called 上海Hinterland Since I visited Shanghai for the first time ten years ago around 11 metro lines has been completed giving a different shape of urban settlements. I want to present his work on the eve of the Shanghai Expo which will open his gate on the 1st of May.
Here the Introduction of the work by Peter Dixie :
Each metro station acts as a locus of development. Around these nodes cluster shops, restaurants and other small businesses, nearby are residential neighbourhoods. Within the city these run together forming a solid continuum. As the city expands the nodes become more distant, space opens up between them and this space is by its very nature ambiguous. Villages pre-dating the city are slowly surrounded, incorporated, cannibalised and replaced, industry sits side by side with the remnants of farmland and homes, pockets of wasteland are interspersed allowing birds and other wildlife a refuge and providing space for spontaneous and informal land use.
From each metro station occupying the terminal position on a line one can wander quickly into these areas of collision and flux. It is those landscapes that are represented here