New Exhibition Explores Poets and Photographs, Past and Present

Beijing truly is magical sometimes, let me tell you. Last May, Spittoon Literary Collective celebrated their tenth anniversary with a lively party at Celestial. It saw many beloved members perform there, one of them being British editor Jessica Medhurst. Both of us read that evening, and both of us alluded to the kind of vintage Chinese photography that is most readily available nowadays in two ways. One is Beijing Silvermine (@beijing_silvermine on Insta), the archive of discarded 35-mm negatives that French artist Thomas Sauvin began lovingly collecting in 2009: a terrific collection sprawling from the mid-80s to the early aughts. Another comes as a fantastic, unique experience, courtesy of the sellers in the used book region of Panjiayuan Market, the biggest flea market in Beijing, and among the largest in China. 

Amidst the celebration, Jessica and I bonded over our nerdy love of Panjiayuan… The combing of dusty piles! The spotting of one, two, a dozen precious old photographs! The haggling! Beers in hand, we even pipe-dreamed: wouldn’t it be grand if we, too, had a little big vintage photography project?

Yes, such is the magic of Beijing for artists and creatives. Because, as it turns out, Jessica and I could indeed make our wildest dreams true, simply by paying a little visit to Panjiayuan before joining minds with a select group of Beijing’s Chinese and international poets. Fall is here, dear reader, and for us it’s back to school with a truly unique project that will launch on Tuesday, Sep 23, at 125 Dongsi Bei Dajie, aka self coffee in the daytime and Golden Weasel at night. 

That project is (re)claimed: flotsam photographs & new retellings, and you best believe we’re thrilled to share it with the Beijing community. I picked for myself the roles of English translator, designer and zine-maker extraordinaire, which gave me some margin to witness Jessica transform into a ball of enthusiasm in her remarkable capacity as co-curator. Together we’ve worked with our lovely crew of poets, and now, humble journalist that I am, it’s time to sit down with Jessica for a chat, to give you a sneak peek into this exciting showcase. 

Hi, Jessica! Okay, I gave readers the background on our mastermind meeting, but I’d like you to delve into the purpose of this project. There’s more than meets the eye at play in (re)claimed…
Absolutely, this is an unusual photography exhibition, largely because the pictures are personal snaps by unknown photographers. They’ve been discarded or sold by their owners, and now, anyone can riffle through them at Panjiayuan, or pick one up for a few kuai, so in many ways they don’t have the trappings of “art”. Ever since I started collecting them, I’ve been curious about the different kinds of value they’ve had and can have, but it seemed kind of trite just to see them as “treasures” and us as their rescuers.

It’s dangerously easy to be nostalgic about printed photos, and, since we’re both foreigners, there’s a double danger in us kind of colonising the pictures by making claims about them. So we’ve tried to make (re)claimed a careful, open dialogue on the question of value by collecting this photographic flotsam into a creative afterlife, and inviting self-consciously new stories through English and Chinese poetry. 

Yes, this is the spirit behind it all. Early on, we understood that we needed a balance of voices in this initiative if we were to do things right. We’ve enlisted some amazing Chinese poets, whose work I hope to have rendered adequately in English translation, and Dong Ying has done a brilliant job of translating our English poets into Chinese. Would you like to elaborate a little on the importance of having Chinese voices participate on equal terms in this particular project?
Yes, this is at the heart of the project, for sure. And we’re lucky enough to have Chinese poets writing in both languages in the exhibition. One of the best moments for me was reading all twelve poems and seeing links tendril out between the different writers and languages, even ones who’d chosen very different images. That sealed the deal on translating the poems for the zine, so that everyone could have that experience, regardless of whether they read Chinese or English. It was an intimidating addition to the project, but you and Ying have done such remarkable work with the translations, and it’s been a total pleasure seeing the authors’ responses to them. 

On that note, tell us something about these poets. I know (re)claimed wouldn’t be complete without them. 
Zuo Fei (昨非) and David Harrison Horton are among the most experienced and widely-published of our poets, but we’ve got newer voices too, including Marco Lin, who’s very new to the scene, and also Sophie Wang, who’s an established writer in Chinese but may be new to some of our audience. Fang Miaofang (方妙红), Shimmer Green and Wu Xingyun (巫行云) complete the Chinese-language line-up, and we’ve got Spittoon favourites Feniá G, James Bradley, Abigail Weathers and Sara Maria Hasbun too, plus Anthony Tao, who’s not only an established poet, but also part of the self x Golden Weasel team that’s so kindly given us our venue.

And then there’s also your contribution as a curator. Not that we want to spoil anything, but I’d love it if you could share a snippet or two about the process.
This is my first time doing this—I’ve got an academic background in literature photography, but I’ve never tried to articulate my ideas on walls before. There’s been a lot to learn for sure, but I already knew the photos were great and that the poets would produce wonderful work, so most of the process has been trusting that a narrative would emerge. It’s not going to be a label-heavy exhibition, though—I hope visitors can find their own ways through it too. In fact, one exhibit is the (re)claimed journal, where we hope people will write their own responses, memories, poems and ideas. 

We’ve been doing some publicity leading up to the launch next Tuesday. Based on the initial reception in our circles and groups, what are your hopes for the launch? What can visitors and friends, old and new, expect from that little party?
I think it’s going to be a relaxed evening with people who are curious about photography and poetry—nothing formal, just an opportunity to meet the authors and chat about art. We’ve had such an encouraging response already, and I really hope we do everyone justice, and show our thanks and support to Golden Weasel too. 

And talking of support, there’s a way that people can help us out with this and future projects: by buying a copy of the zine. But that’s your domain—can I turn interviewer and ask you to say a few words about what people can expect from it?

(Myself) Oh, this is a new experience for me! I’ll try to be a good interviewee… I typically refer to myself as a self-taught illustrator because I did indeed teach myself to draw, specifically so that I could gradually take over the visual identity of Spittoon, at least as far as our event posters go. I’ve enjoyed it so much, lately I’ve found myself wanting to expand into new directions: graphic design, book layout, you name it. But there’s a bit of a learning curve to the software that is typically involved with these endeavors. You can spend money on courses, sure. Or you can be off your rocker like me, and just jump into it by designing a whole zine, ha, ha. The final product may not be a perfect objet d’art, but I do hope it will honor our contributors’ beautiful work, the photographs and my own enthusiasm throughout this project. 

So that’s what people can expect so far, but how about the future—will there be more (re)claimed projects?
Yes, for sure! This first exhibition is pure response, using only the photos we had. I’d like the next one to have more of a social history angle, and I’d also like to get more Beijingers involved in creative and historical responses, especially people who were growing up in the periods we’ve got pictures from. 

There are also some great experts in the field, like Tong Bingxue and Lars Ulrik Thom—working with them would be a dream. But we’ll see how this first one goes, and then take it from there, but I really hope this isn’t the only (re)claimed project. 

The (re)claimed: flotsam photography & new retellings exhibition opening will be taking place at self coffee x Golden Weasel from 8pm on Tue, Sep 23. Entry to the event is free.

self coffee/Golden Weasel
125 Dongsi Bei Dajie, Dongcheng District
东城区东四北大街125号
Hours: 10am-late
Phone: 185 1094 7779

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Images: courtesy of Golden Weasel, Jessica Medhurst and Ana Padilla Fornieles