Overhead. Overlooked. When did you last tilt your chin skyward? Do you notice that awning there, sheltering you from the pouring rain or battering sun? What lies above? What lies beyond?
Imperfect and worn, the fabric and plastic awnings of Shanghai’s traditional lilong neighborhoods are offered a Whitman-esque sense of quiet dignity, heroism, and beauty at the hands of French photographer Nathalie Perakis-Valat. Art+ Shanghai Gallery’s first exhibition of 2015, Over and Above, Above and Beyond: Photography by Nathalie Perakis-Valat, celebrates the unassuming beauty of the everyday through close-up images of awnings displayed alongside texts written by local residents and discarded objects from the neighborhoods. Through abstract-like color and texture, Over and Above, Above and Beyond speaks to the layers of a community, at once a visual and sociological study.
With a raw, natural aesthetic, Nathalie Perakis-Valat’s photography emphasizes the variety, strength, and roughness of her subject matter with very little post-production, allowing the awnings to act as synecdoches for the neighborhoods at large. From the historic and established communities of central Xintiandi to the migrant-heavy communities of Hongqiao, Perakis-Valat’s close-up images hint at what is beyond, at the sun that beats down and shines through cracks and frays, the winds and rains that torment and crumple, the nearby construction that throws dust in the air, and the lives lived beneath. There is a sense of riddles and inside jokes, of humility and anxiety, of perseverance and steadfastness. As Shanghai’s lilongs give way to modern developments, what is lost and what is gained?
Perakis-Valat gives meaning and beauty to the Shanghai lilongs. At its heart, Over and Above, Above and Beyond is a thoughtful characterization of the neighborhoods through the cracks and colors of the awnings that watch over them like mute spectators. Turn a careful eye above and wonder what stories those awnings could tell. These are the true treasures of Shanghai’s lilongs, the modern bits of utilitarian material that clash with the old façades, that go unnoticed yet contain within them the life and history of the city. Over and Above, Above and Beyond offers a sense of place, belonging, and value. Amid the frenetic energy and evolving ramshackle of Shanghai, these awnings stand over and above, hinting at what lies above and beyond.
