CURVES OF MOON AND RIVERS OF BLUE
A solo exhibition of photographs by Nadav Kander.
Curated by Tamar Arnon & Eli Zagury
«The first solo exhibition of British photographer Nadav Kander in Hong Kong presents two of his most accomplished series to date. On first impressions the two series in this show appear very different yet in fact their essence is the same. Kander explores the narrative of the vulnerability of mankind and asks the same question in both series; ’What it is to be alone in the world?’ Alone, in the vast and rapidly transforming China, or naked and alone within our own bodies.
© Nadav Kander, Three Gorges Dam II, Yichang, Hubei Province
2007
There is a tension felt across the works in this show. Whether the people in Kander’s photographs appear small against vast cityscapes and landscapes or life size in studio shots surrounded by darkness, they all project the same isolation. Kander’s seductive nude series of large-scale painterly photographs creates an uneasy tension between intimacy and objectification, as each of his artist’s models are unforgettably captured in a repertoire of gestures, postures, and movements which evoke an internal disquiet. In the Yangtze, The Long River series, the tension is palpable as we view these powerful photographs of people negotiating existence, identity and belonging as a result of living with rapid dramatic change that has reshaped their country.
© Blindspot Gallery Installation
Both series also question what we perceive as beauty in today’s world. Our notion of beauty, in nature and the environment around us, or as it can be perceived by us when viewing the naked human body, is being challenged by Kander. This show seeks to affirm there is no universal perception and we must question common ideas not only of beauty but also of humanity.» [Tamar Arnon & Eli Zagury, February 2014.]
© Nadav Kander, Qinghai Province II, 2007
«Although it was never my intention to make documentary pictures, the sociological context of this project is ever present and unavoidable. The displacement of 1.7 million people in a 600-kilometre (380-mile) stretch of the river and the effect on humans when a country moves towards the future at unprecedented speed are themes that inevitably figure within the work. China is a nation that appears to be severing its roots by destroying its past. Demolition and construction were everywhere on such a scale that I was unsure if what I was seeing was being built or destroyed, destroyed or built.
I felt strong parallels with the twentieth-century immigrants, who poured off the boats onto American soil for a new beginning without roots. And yet, paradoxically, the Chinese have traditionally had a deep identification with their native soil and an attachment to place. How can one be so rooted to the land and yet so ruthlessly redevelop or reinvent it?
China’s progress is rapid and profound. These are photographs that can never be taken again.» [Nadav Kander, from Artist Statement - Yangtze, The Long River]
© Blindspot Gallery Installation
«Revealed yet concealed. Shameless yet shameful. Ease with unease. Beauty and destruction. These paradoxes are displayed in all my work; an enquiry into what it feels like to be human.
These naked pictures are the latest, and perhaps strongest, distillation of the themes that continue to fascinate and nourish me. My subject matters are varied, but the essence is the same. Whether photographing on the banks of the Yangtze, or in my studio, I work with the human conditions that link us all; the vulnerability of mankind. What it is to be alone in the world. What it is to be human.
© Nadav Kander, Elizabeth sitting, 2012, 2012
Popular imagery airbrushes the shadow from our lives, but of course there is no health without illness, no life without death, and no beauty without imperfection. Wherever I may be, my pictures seek to expose the shadow and vulnerability that exists in all of us, and it is this vulnerability that I find so beautiful.» [Nadav Kander, from Artist Statement - Bodies. 6 Women, 1 Man]
© Blindspot Gallery | Nadav Kander