China Red

– February 8, 2005

I was at the 1st Guangzhou photo biennale during my first week in China in 2005. I was helping Alain Jullien – curator of the biennale – in installing the shows. I then realized how unconscious I had been to quit my white collar job in Paris to become a photographer. I had no experience ! Looking at those amazing photographs on the wall, I saw the gap between my ‘poor travel snapshots’ and the good work of established photographers… So i could not shoot any photos at all for a few days. I felt stuck. And one day, i could not stand anymore this frustration. I saw red! So i went on the streets of Guangzhou and shot everything RED i could find. It was a kind of rebellion against myself.

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About Eric Leleu

I have been living in China as a photographer for a few years. My brain is obsessed by concepts such as authority, consumerism, capitalism, geopolitics, sociology or urbanity... In a word, I am interested in our contemporaries (you and I) and the world as it becomes. My focus is the dynamics of public spaces: the interrelationship between the authority, the crowd and the individual. As for my eye, it is looking for colors and intensity. My dream is simple: having a few of my photos living longer than me...