Pingyao 2009

Life & Dream

Life is the most enigmatical natural phenomenon, and dream is the most stirring life of the mind. If it weren’t for the real-life vehicle, dream would have been unreachable; while, if it weren’t for the spiritual guide of dream, life would also have been unromantic. In September, 2009, life will mingle with dream in Pingyao, China, a world cultural heritage, plainly manifesting the power of photography.

Each photographer is full of life; each photographic work is the visual life; and each artistic creation can represent life. The dream is just the reason why life has aroused our concern. Only by endowing life with dream can it give the act of thinking and get into the act in its diverse splendor, and, in this case, life is worth while to consider, document and break new ground. Life is not only the material existence but also the carrier and coordinate of photography. Meanwhile, dream is not only the spiritual enchantment, but a sign of artistic originality and causality as well.

In China, Chinese photographers enjoy exceptional advantages in the brilliant historical heritage and the vast geographic space. Our times and society, which have made an unprecedented change due to the dream, may be the gigantic life entity, regardless of the vertical time dimension and the transverse space dimension. In the course of globalization, our world becomes the global village, as well as the greater life entity that carries great weight in all the human dreams. In this way, photographers from all parts of the world share and create the history.

Photographers are both recorders of life and its creators. In September, 2009, these attempts will evolve as the visual presentation representing life and dream, which is quite unprecedented in Pingyao. Life and dream, the theme of the 9th Pingyao International Photography Festival, can showcase an orientation for photographic values and provide the possibility of artistic intervention.

People’s imagination can be fired by life, and life seems to be more significant thanks to dreams. China Pingyao International Photography Festival, the world’s largest photo exhibition, will show all the dreams of life.