Retrieved: The Art of Looking Back
In 2016, the Chinese Culture Center (CCC) of San Francisco, in collaboration with SF Camerawork, presented “Retrieved: The Art of Looking Back”, a dual-sited photography exhibition that delved into themes of memory, identity, and cultural transformation in contemporary China. Featuring works by photographers Kurt Tong, Thomas Sauvin, and Daniel Traub, the exhibition offered a poignant exploration of personal and collective histories through recovered and repurposed imagery.
🖼️ Exhibition Overview
“Retrieved” brought together three distinct photographic projects:
- Kurt Tong’s “The Queen, The Chairman and I”: A visual narrative tracing Tong’s family history from Shanghai to Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, examining the intersections of personal memory and broader historical currents.
- Thomas Sauvin’s “Beijing Silvermine”: An archive of over half a million discarded negatives salvaged from a recycling plant on the outskirts of Beijing, capturing everyday life in the city from 1985 to 2005.
- Daniel Traub’s “Little North Road”: A series of portraits depicting African migrants in Guangzhou, taken by itinerant street photographers and collected by Traub to shed light on the experiences of this transient community.
Each project utilized found or vernacular photography to reconstruct narratives that might otherwise be lost, emphasizing the role of images in preserving cultural memory.
🗓️ Exhibition Details
- Dates: February 19 – May 14, 2016
- Venues:
- Chinese Culture Center, 750 Kearny Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108
- SF Camerawork, 1011 Market Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103
The exhibition was accompanied by an Artists’ Talk featuring Kurt Tong and Daniel Traub, who discussed the creative processes behind their work and the significance of archival photography in contemporary art.
🔍 Themes and Significance
“Retrieved” explored the following themes:
- Memory and Identity: Investigating how personal and collective identities are shaped and preserved through photographs.
- Cultural Transformation: Documenting the rapid social and cultural changes in China over recent decades.
- Archival Practices: Highlighting the importance of preserving everyday images as historical documents.
By presenting these projects, the exhibition underscored the value of photography in capturing the nuances of human experience and the complexities of cultural evolution.
🧭 Conclusion
“Retrieved: The Art of Looking Back” offered visitors a compelling journey through the landscapes of memory and cultural change. Through the lens of recovered photographs, the exhibition illuminated the enduring power of images to connect past and present, individual and collective narratives.