Text for SPOON: Issue #4

Photographer Ollie Ma’

Cul de sac

British suburbia – with all its housing estates, filled with cul-de-sac streets and obscurely named lanes.There is an irony there, when you choose to see it, for cul-de-sac – a term used for “dead ends”, or “no exit” – literal meaning: “ass of a bag”, describes so neatly a British suburban town.

What happens in the ass of a bag? Not much… people live their quaint lives, following the formula that society has forged for them. It’s easier to follow the formula, because then you don’t have to think for yourself and hopefully life will be simple.
Sometimes there are people who are trapped in the ass of the bag, who don’t want to follow the formula, and the only way to survive is to find beauty in the mundane or the banal.

It takes an acute eye to find the beauty and the quirks that make British suburbia distinctive. Offering stylised moments, dreamy and tender, photographer Ollie Ma’ captures these quirks through his camera lens. Featuring Declan Cullen of band IDOL, juxtaposed in front of a typical suburban backdrop of red brick, TV aerials and despondent graffiti.

Inspired by the simplicity and familiar structure of pop music, Cullen aims to writes songs that are catchy, and like any good pop melody, act as escapism. As he puts it, “a pop song provides a fleeting moment of pleasure that is direct and without complications.”
Wherever boredom and apathy breeds, so does creativity and fervour. Combined with the ceaseless rain that Britain endures, occasionally magic happens in the ass of a bag.

Cul de sac is original text by Claire Silvanna Cullen for SPOON Magazine.

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Cul de sac
Photographer Ollie Ma’
Model Declan Cullen at Bananas models Paris
Text Claire Cullen

SPOON is an ad-free, fine-Art and slow fashion photography magazine that relies only on readers orders for publishing.
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Rong Rong & inri. The Moment, the Place and Harmony.

Through the camera lens, Rong Rong & inri exhibit a personal language that delivers their tender and poignant portrayal of existence. Their photographs tell a story of a singular moment (tianshi), a place (dishou) and harmony (renhe), these being the three fundamental conditions they abide by to encapsulate their surroundings.

Chinese born Rong Rong, emerged in the East Village Beijing in the early nineties as a innovative Chinese photographer. For Ruin Series, his moving and sincere documentation of the once inhabited remains of his home quarters in Beijing, express the callously drastic changes Beijing committed to in order to modernise.  Inri, who is Japanese, began her photographic career working for magazine, Asahi Shimbun, in this period she was renowned for her fiercely powerful portraits. Both artists keen to push the margins of conventional artistic practice came together in 2000 and make for a powerful and enchanting, creative twosome.

Their alluring style of photography gives a subtle yet dramatic insight into the peculiar realm they have composed. In much of the imagery, we see their naked bodies entwined accepting the extreme conditions that behold them. They become intrinsic to the found space, making it their own. Vast landscapes and derelict dwellings seem like private corners and as an onlooker it feels as though you are glimpsing into a tender moment.

In 2007 Rong Rong & inri opened the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing. Designed by artist Ai Wei Wei, the centre showcases contemporary Chinese photographers and boasts an art-in-residence program where artists can explore photography through the facilities available. The gallery is open to anyone and is a wonderful platform for artists and the general public to appreciate photography.

 

As pioneers for contemporary photography, they epitomise the new talent that has surfaced from East Asia over the last few decades. Much of contemporary Chinese art emulates 20^th Century art movements, however Rong Rong & inri seem to be in a domain of their own. Their composure and sophistication exudes from the imagery they create and draws the viewer into their striking existence.

Three Shadows Photography Art Centre 

 

Claire@kitschreligion