In the exhibition Galerie Julian Sander is showing a selection of motifs from the extensive series “101 Portraits of Hutong” by Chinese photographer Xu Yong. In his series, created in 1989/90, he focuses on the history of Beijing’s traditional residential areas with their centuries-old houses, backyards and narrow alleyways, the so-called hutongs.
Xu Yong was one of the first photographers to go beyond political glamorization and ideological whitewashing and focus on everyday life in modern China. Many of the neighborhoods he documented have since fallen victim to radical modernization efforts and have been demolished. Xu Yong’s black and white photographs document the ups and downs, the heyday and decline of the hutongs in the face of the rapid changes in Chinese society since the end of the Qing dynasty. With his elegiac series, Xu Yong has created a monument to Beijing’s old alleyway districts, expressing both their poetic beauty and the sadness of their disappearance. In his melancholy photographs, he captures fragments of a vanishing reality and the fleeting charm of the old alleyways.
Xu Yong was born in Shanghai in 1954 and grew up in an environment characterized by the harshness of everyday political life in China and the adverse living conditions of the Hutong districts. The districts were characterized by a backward infrastructure; they often lacked basic sanitary facilities and running water. The aesthetically morbid charm of these districts, many of which have now given way to modern residential complexes, forms a central theme of his artistic work.
As one of the pioneers of today’s 798 Art District, Xu Yong contributed significantly to the transformation of former military barracks and factories into a center for contemporary art. In 2003, he initiated the art event Re-Creation 798, which redefined this area as a cultural space. The photo series “101 Portraits of Hutong” is one of his most important works from this creative period. The series was first exhibited in 1989.
A new edition of the book “Xu Yong, Hutong 101 Photos” was published by Kerber Verlag in July 2024. The book is available in the gallery and will be presented by Kerber Verlag on the occasion of the opening.
Xu Yong»
Hutong
7 Dec 2024 – 8 Mar 2025
Galerie Julian Sander
Bonner Str. 82
50677 Köln
www.galeriejuliansander.de
© Xu Yong: Hutong
© Xu Yong: Hutong
© Xu Yong: Hutong
© Xu Yong: Hutong
© Xu Yong: Hutong
© Xu Yong: Hutong
© Xu Yong: Hutong
© Xu Yong: Hutong
