For the past 30 years, China has risen at breakneck speed. How can one follow such rapid development for ⅕ of humanity. Beginning in 1979, when the country started to open up, the photographer Yann Layma had only one thing in mind: producing a photographic portrait of the Chinese giant and its astonishing transformation. In 2003, he published the massive—and massively successful—Chine (La Martinière), which was translated into five languages.
Layma kept up with China’s development, settling in Beijing in 2011. He wondered why he felt so much love for the country. Of course there’s the contagious enthusiasm of rapid economic development, the promise of a better future, not to mention a daily sense of security. But the real reason was the Chinese people and its ancient culture, which had deeply touched him. Layma came to the conclusion that he loves China because it’s the country with the most people to love in it.
But how can one make a new portrait with changes occurring more and more quickly? Layma decided to bring together the best Chinese photographers to capture what China has become. China Now, which was released in France this October, is the result of two and a half years of work and research.
China may have become the world’s largest economy, but behind that statistic are 1.5 billion people living in poverty. And its success has come at great cost, most worrisomely, to the environment. China Now offers a powerful, sensitive, uncompromising portrait of China today.
Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil.
BOOK
China Now
Direction : Yann Layma
360 x 250 mm
192 pages
Punlisher: La Martinière
09 octobre 2014
ISBN 9782732448824
49 €
