Feng Junlan is a pastor. He takes pictures of people in the Bible for church members when he is not working in the church. The people in his works have the most true and pure eyes that reach the depths of the soul, full of faith and great love that travel through time and space.
In June 2016, "Dust Idol" won the first prize of the 2016 Ruan Yizhong Photography Humanities Award. Honor and applause never interfered with his beliefs. He shot as always, looking for the holy light in the dust of the world.
interviewed/ Feng Junlan
collection/ Lu Shu, Du Yang
editor/ Lu Shu, Chen Sheng
▶︎ This article is about 3800 words, it takes 15 minutes to read the full text z10, and you got 31z
zz 31. The first prize of Ruan Yizhong Photography Humanities Award, how is this project progressing now? Almost two years have passed. What is the difference and what is the same?
As a clergyman, the theme of "Dust Icon" to express the Christian faith is my life's homework. As I did before, while working in the church, I occasionally invite my brothers and sisters around me, urging them to spare an hour or two in a certain afternoon to be my model.
I have always been a person who lacks planning. I can be said to be diligent when I work in the church. Most of the rest is casual, and the same is true for taking pictures. I have never been a photography enthusiast. The photos on the theme of "Dust Icon" are like this Slowly accumulate, waiting for enough weight or can be assembled into the next book. (The previous book "Light Dust" was published in 2016 by Taiwan’s Big Culture Publishing House)
After winning the award, what have you been doing so far? How has this award helped you? It’s really surprising that
won this award. At the beginning, I participated in the solicitation, purely based on my gratitude and support to Teacher Ruan. Later, I learned that the top 15 finalists were already very surprised. Now I think it’s like a dream and not practical. When
received the award, his mind was blank, and he even forgot to express his gratitude to Teacher Ruan, because he was not ready to take the stage at all. After that, due to the tight pursuit of the job at hand, I did not contact the teacher again. In addition to keeping in mind the enlightenment and encouragement given by the mentor, I hope that I will live up to the meaning, ideals and heritage represented by this heavy award. Whether
wins or not, I am still the servant who regards the host and lover as his life's job, and I will not change. However, this award has indeed promoted more opportunities to share beliefs and beliefs with others. Just like my photography exhibition at the China Oil Painting Academy last year, Mr. Chen Danqing, who has been admired for a long time, was willing to serve as the curator of the exhibition. One of the assessments), and through teacher Dan Qing invited teacher Gu Zheng to talk in the forum, and got to know the teacher Faman of LENS magazine. In the process, I benefited a lot from the gentlemen, which was beyond imagination. , My heart is full of touch and gratitude.
△ In June 2016, Feng Junlan's "Dust Icon" won the first prize of the first Ruan Yizhong Photography Humanities Award.
In "Dust Icon", which one is your personal favorite? Would you like to share its story?
The picture of "The Lord's Handmaid" was taken six days before the death of the Taiwanese Paiwan gospel singer Guo Xiaowen. Xiaowen was diagnosed with rectal cancer early in her pregnancy, and the doctor asked her to remove the child immediately to help fight cancer. After a great battle, Xiaowen finally rejected the doctor's advice and insisted on preserving the fetus. During her pregnancy, she suffered a lot; she suffered several blood collapses, her body was in severe pain, and she could not sleep. Huangtian did not take pains, Xiaowen finally gave birth to a healthy and lovely baby girl, named Le Xuan. However, due to missing the optimal treatment opportunity, cancer cells spread. In the following three years, even though Xiaowen had undergone several major operations, multiple organ removal, and chemotherapy, she was ultimately defeated by the disease.
Six days before her death, I was ordered to photograph Xiaowen’s last face. Xiaowen’s husband Zongmin asked me on the phone: because she really liked the message you took in the portrait. How can I refuse? But he was terrified, for fear of being insulted.
At that time, Xiaowen was dead, almost lost her vision, and only half of her hearing remained. Zongmin carefully carried her from the wheelchair to the seat.But even so, Xiaowen has never lost her beauty and smile from the heart and soul. She found my nervousness and soothed me with incomparable gentleness: Don't worry, I can, although we can do our job well. Just because God's love is with her, Xiaowen is convinced that death to the Lord's servant girl is only a threshold leading her to another new being. Xiaowen in front of the camera is like a saint. She has witnessed to us that love is better than survival, love is stronger than death, and holy love is even linked to eternity.
△ Taiwanese Paiwan gospel singer Guo Xiaowen, "The Lord's Handmaid"
You once described "photography as a humble expression", you can talk specifically about why you, who possessed the cultivation of art and design, finally chose "humble" photography To express it?
I have been interested in art since I was a child, and then I studied art as I wish. After graduating from vocational school, I engaged in art design and advertising for my life. I grew up in a preacher's family and was asked to be self-reliant very early. Later, I got married early. My wife took care of my wife and children at home, and I was responsible for supporting the family. I can’t do enough in design and advertising. The problem lies in the contradiction between my beliefs and the entire capitalist commercial civilization. This often makes me question and reject what I do.
△ "Dust Icon"
amateur photography has become an outlet, on the one hand, because the threshold of photography is relatively low, the length of betting time required is more flexible; and my personality is introverted, photography can be closed. The boring painting is different, forcing me to face the external world, forcing me to leave myself and open to others, to observe and receive.
You once said that people in contemporary images "seem not really alive, but walking dead". What do you think is the reason why contemporary people are "inhuman"?
This is a long story. After the Western Enlightenment, rationality was exalted as the supreme authority by modern people, and they doubted everything that had not been verified by rationality and science. And the postmodern after the modern era is the Red Guard parasitic on modern enlightenment rationality and suspicion, clinging to rationality but beating rationality, starting from suspicion and ending with suspicion, focusing exclusively on beating, smashing, and looting. Poke Li subverts all beliefs and traditional values. After deconstructing all beliefs and traditional values, they are assembled and sold as parts at will.
△ "Icon of Dust"
is a postmodern world. Under the appearance of a hundred flowers blooming like fireworks, it is a ruin of spirit and spirituality. There is a mist of nothingness in the air. People living in the postmodern world, Or a real materialist, atheist, agnostic, or nihilist, or fascinated by Eastern mysticism that regards the essence of the world as an illusion, or deconstructed by following a deity based on free proof The idol who put together the parts at will.
The pluralism after decentralization and relative absolutization is just another fulfillment of the disintegrated ending in the Fables of the Tower of Babel. Don’t you see the most common contemporary texts, images that appear repeatedly in movies, or vampires, werewolves, zombies, and mutants wandering in the dark for half a lifetime; or they are artificially intelligent robots or cyborgs... People who are at a loss in the chaotic real world can only escape and indulge in the online world and imitate the image in the virtual world to transform themselves in reality.
Looking at Western history, art has always been closely related to religious beliefs. What do you think of the relationship between art and religion today?
In fact, it is not only in Western history that art and religious beliefs are closely related, but all primitive art, in addition to the needs of life aesthetics, the most exquisite and imaginative paintings, sculptures, music, dance, theater, and architecture are all for service Religion came into being. The earlier art of
has a clear directional nature, which serves as a match between believers and the objects of worship (elves, gods, transcendence, and ultimate reality). However, today when religious micro-humanism is in power, since the original point of art has been removed from the hearts of contemporary people, the finger has replaced the point pointed to. Art has become its own purpose and a placebo to calm people’s spiritual needs. In the art festivals one after another, the artist is not only the maker of idols, but also the spiritual medium of wizards, and from time to time he climbs up the altar to accept people's worship.
△ "Dust Icon"
How do you understand the humanistic spirit?
Broadly speaking, the humanistic spirit can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophy, Judaism, Christianity and ethics, ancient Chinese ideas such as Taoism, Confucianism, and Mohism, and then the Renaissance and Enlightenment. There is no unified follow and definition. , But the common emphasis is on human dignity, compassion and love, tolerance and non-violence.
If you ask me whether this can be used as the basis for the correspondence between nations and ethnic groups in today's disintegrated world, I agree with both of my hands, but based on the biblical view of human nature and history, I am honestly pessimistic. What is the next creation plan for
?
In addition to the series of "Dust Idol" which continuously reflects the biblical view of human beings, what is going on now also includes the "Mutual Limbs" series reflecting the biblical ethics, the "Grass and Mustard" series reflecting the thoughts of all things, and "Wa Lu" series and "Still Life" series.
△
more details "to each other limb"
△ "worthless"
△ "Still Life"
Second Ruan Yizhong photography Humanities Award has started collecting works Click on the text at the end find out more
Ruan Yizhong
photographers, photography critic, Ruan Yizhong Mr., since 2013, we have opened workshops in cities in Taiwan and Mainland China to teach traditional darkroom techniques in addition to aesthetic theories. During the period, exhibitions and lectures continued, and frequent contacts with mainland students. I often have the opportunity to participate in various photography festivals and serve as judges in various photography competitions. His experience is that, in addition to feeling the vigor of photography activities in various places on the ground, he also observed that the current popular photography performance is seriously biased towards conceptuality, and the humanistic spirit is gradually thinning, which is worrying.
enjoys multiple awards for its conceptual and artistic performance, while documentary photography and long-term in-depth work on a subject have received little attention. This gave birth to his long-hidden idea: to set up an award for Chinese photography. But he pointed out: "It is not documentary that is called humanity. Any photography technique that expresses the cherishment of the living environment and care for human things is full of humanistic spirit."
Call for papers
"Ruan Yizhong Photography Humanities Award" is set to every Two-year
The second call for papers
2018.1.1-4.30, 24:00 (Beijing time)
Award setting
The selection is divided into two stages: preliminary review and final review
finally selected the winner of the second Ruan Yizhong Photography Humanities Award First place awarded a bonus of 100,000 yuan (pre-tax)
Second place awarded a bonus of 50,000 yuan (pre-tax)
Third place awarded a bonus of 30,000 yuan (pre-tax)
The top three winners of the Humanities Award will be invited to participate in the award ceremony
All links uphold the principles of openness, fairness and fairness
The works of the fifteen finalists will be assembled into a picture album and a touring exhibition
will be held. Chinese photographers from across the strait, three places, and even around the world can contribute.
Two are not restricted to age, and anyone with full civil capacity in compliance with local laws can contribute.
Three photography works full of humanistic spirit, including documentary photography but not limited to documentary photography, any photography technique, as long as the photography works expressing the cherishment of living environment and caring for human affairs can participate.
Four entries must contain all of the following documents to be considered as valid submissions:
(1) is provided in the form of a group photo, and the number of each group is at least 20 (inclusive) and no more than 30 (inclusive), provided in jpeg, The long edge guarantees 1200dpi, and each picture is compressed to no more than 5M.
(2) Self-description of the group picture creation Within 500 words, the group picture and single picture must have the corresponding picture caption, which is provided in text (txt or word).
(3) Resume within 500 words, provided in text format (txt or word).
5 If all entries of are selected, the participant promises to provide free large files for printing and publishing at the exhibition for the promotion of the competition.
Six submission deadline: April 30, 2018 24:00 (subject to Beijing time).
Seven Notes for : Ruan Yizhong Photography Humanities Award final review committee, preliminary review committee and direct family members of the organizing committee declined to participate.
Click to read the original text for more details:)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-