The photographs of the young photographer Liu Gang (1983, Changsha) included in the series "Paper dreams" go far beyond the apparently simple technical language they employ: they offer different layers of interpretation of the close yet complex relationship between the notion of house, self and identity from a societal and highly personal point of view.Far more interested in exploring the potential of photography as a tool capable of arousing questions specific of contemporary society, rather than to embrace a definite stylistic ethos, Liu Gang uses this body of works to investigate the driving forces dominating the life of the contemporary Chinese everyman and his innate desires.

By focusing on the consequences of China's financial an economic impetus, Liu Gang shows the appeal exerted by the real estate market on Chinese society, the impact it has on the establishment of new aesthetic values by the Chinese nouveaux riches and as a consequence of their taste, the rise of a new notion of both urban living and cityscape. But most of all, these works testify the birth of a new class defined almost exclusively by patterns of consumption every Chinese citizen feels almost compelled to be part of. (By Manuela Lietti)