National Museum of Asian Art, East Building
Perspectives: Hai Bo
March 27, 2010 – February 27, 2011
As part of the Perspectives series of contemporary Asian art, on view are five large-scale photographs from Hai Bo's Northern Series, which invite viewers to enter the vast panoramas of the artist's childhood memories, observe the subtle changes of nature across seasons, and encounter the gentle transience of life. Hai Bo (born 1962, Changchun, China) looks to the desolate plains of northeastern China for his images. Trained as a painter, Hai Bo took up photography in the 1980s as he became captivated by the camera's ability to stop time and evoke memories. For over two decades, he has been returning to his hometown in Jilin Province to capture the people and places of his youth, creating deeply moving portraits of resilience amidst the growing isolation of rural China.
