The Asia-Pacific photo exhibition of the year

PHOTOFAIRS | Shanghai takes place from 8-10 September and will showcase some truly dazzling imagery

25 August 2017

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If you like great photography, a trip to Shanghai in September may be in order.

The fourth annual PHOTOFAIRS | Shanghai exhibition takes place from 8-10 September, giving collectors, buyers and curators the chance to get up close to some of the most exciting talents in Asia.

It will also be the first major exhbition of works by renowned Chinese artist Ren Hang since his death in February. ‘In China due to censorship issues, his controversial works were often not able to be displayed in public,’ says Peipei Han, PHOTOFAIRS, Associate Director China. ‘As one of the new generation of Chinese photographer, he influenced younger and emerging photographers in China and has received great recognition abroad. He left a large body of work with his iconic style.’

The exhibition is designed to provide a platform for emerging Chinese and Asian artists, but will also showcase the work of international artists.

There are 30 VIP preview tickets (8 September), which include a private bilingual tour, available to Marco Polo Club members. For details, visit cathaypacific.com.

See some of the art, with comments by the artists, in the slideshow below:

Endless Streams, by Yang Yongliang
Yang Yongliang says: ‘Endless Streams features busy traffic in a city center, where cars pass through like running water. Its Chinese title Chuan Liu Bu Xi, which originally means “endless streams”, is also frequently used to depict traffic. In Chinese literature, “running stream” is a symbol for the passing of time.’
© Yang Yongliang
Salt Steps, by Scarlett Hooft Graafland
Scarlett Hooft Graafland says: ‘Salt Steps (photographed in 2004), shows a man carrying inflated rubber boats in a pool of water on the salt flats of Bolivia. One of the most popular cartoons in the region is the ‘Hulk’, about an ordinary man, who, if angry, gets inflated and transforms into a powerful giant.
© Scarlett Hooft Graafland, Courtesy of Flowers Gallery London and New York
Four Giraffes, by Maroesjka Lavigne
Maroesjka Lavigne says: ‘Namibia's landscape draws you in, through a vast brown plain of scorched earth, and steers you over the white surface of a salt pan to finally arrive in the gold tones of the sand dunes. It literally takes you hours, driving though nothing, to at long last arrive at...more of nothing.’
© Maroesjka Lavigne, courtesy Robert Mann Gallery
Goldfinch, by Cig Harvey
Cig Harvey says: ‘My Gardening at Night series is an exploration of home, family, nature, and time. Each photograph and written vignette offers a tactile experience of things that ordinarily seem intangible – the secret life of birds, of barren winter trees, of the lake in spring time, or the girl in the window whose house you pass every day.’
© Cig Harvey, courtesy Robert Mann Gallery
Finding Refuge, by Karen Knorr
Karen Knorr says: ‘I combine two distinct practices that have historically existed separately in photography – wildlife photography and architectural photography – which produces an uncanny tension, disrupting reality towards a magical realism favoured by story tellers and folk tales. Very much a documentary of the present, as these architectural sites are fragile, as is animal life.’
© Karen Knorr