In July 1988, the Arles Photography Festival presented a large-scale China exhibition. This marked the first time that Chinese photography appeared in a large international photography festival. The exhibition was given unprecedented attention from the outside world and caused animated discussion in China.

This exhibition is based on the important parts of the China exhibition in Arles in 1988, Wu Yinxian: The Father of Chinese Photography and Chinese Photographers Today: Xia Yonglie, Chen Baosheng, Ling Fei, Gao Yuan, and Zhang Hai’er, in an attempt to reexamine the position of photography in China today through the recovery of this special moment in the development of Chinese photography. Exhibited works include Wu Yinxian‟s Shout, Hu Yaobang at Yan’an, and Morning Market, Chen Baosheng‟s Vigor, Xia Yonglie‟s Treasures under the Streetlights and Crying, Zhang Hai‟er‟s Body, Time-Delay Guangdong and Night Scene with the Photographer’s Left Hand, and Ling Fei‟s Thief.

Apart from Wu Yinxian who has already passed away, the photographers that participated in the Arles Photography Festival will reunite in Beijing at the Second Caochangdi PhotoSpring –Arles in Beijing after more than twenty years. This meeting seems to have come a little late, but it is still extraordinarily precious. In conjunction with the exhibition, PhotoSpring is proud to present the Arles 1988 China Exhibition Slideshow and Symposium. At this event, artists and critics will engage in dynamic discussion.

 Curated by RongRong and Bérénice Angremy