Follow these photographers to tell a story

A photo from Celine Liu's series "Celine Liu." (Photos courtesy of OCAT Shenzhen)

A Chinese woman enters the frame of an old photo. She touches the shoulder of Simone de Beauvoir, sits in J.F. Kennedy’s ill fated car, joins Marilyn Monroe on her couch, paints with Pablo Picasso and laughs with Grace Kelly. She is Celine Liu, a young Chinese photographer who is exhibiting her amazingly edited photos at the newly opened "Follow_Me" exhibition at OCAT Shenzhen.

A photo from Celine Liu's series "Celine Liu."

Holding a master of fine arts degree in photography from Tsinghua University, Liu used Photoshop to edit herself into historical photos, posing next to the iconic figures. She then spread the photos online, baffling Internet users. This set of photos won her the Discovery Award at the Jimei-Arles International Photography Season in 2016.

A photo from Celine Liu's series "Celine Liu."

"I hope to present the process of making a symbol through this project. Celebrities and historical figures were symbols created through media communication, so by intruding into their historical moments, blurring reality and fiction, and with the help of the Internet, my images are spread along with the famous people equally. This photo series is titled 'Celine Liu,' and I will finally become a symbol like them," Liu explained.

A photo from Celine Liu's series "Celine Liu."

Similar to Liu's role-playing methodology, Swiss photographer Romain Mader is showcasing his series "Ekaterina" at the exhibition, another photo series aimed at blurring reality and fiction. Mader, the winner of 2017 Paul Huf Award, documented his "trip" to a fictional Ukrainian town called "Ekaterina," which is mysteriously populated only by women. During the "trip," Madler spends time with aspiring models and beauty queen hopefuls. In a slick style similar to commercial snapshots, social media and tourism brochures, viewers are drawn into a world of consuming women, mail-order brides and sex tourism.

A photo from Romain Mader's series "Ekaterina."

The "Follow_Me: New Narratives in Contemporary Photography, China-Switzerland" exhibition features 10 young photographers from China and Switzerland using the language of photography to discuss the similarities and differences between visual narratives and the impact of modern communication.

A photo from Romain Mader's series "Ekaterina."

Curators Peter Pfrunder and Shi Hantao found that one of the most remarkable features in contemporary photography, both in China and in Switzerland, is the way in which photography is used for telling a story, creating an "imagined reality" between documentary and fiction. Within a set of photos, the artists build a visual narration with a story line, which can then be considered an autobiographical account, a travelogue or an investigation into unknown realities with dreamlike lyrical sequences.

A photo from David Favrod's series "Gaijin."

"Playing the role of an author/photographer/narrator, the artists invite the viewers to 'follow' them and listen to their stories. They also attempt to invite the viewers to become new narrators as social media increasingly permeates life and every user has already become a narrator of a story," said the curators.

A photo from David Favrod's series "Gaijin."

The exhibition is divided into four sections. The first discusses the problem of identity, where David Favrod, Kimisa and Salvatore Vitale raise the question of "Who I Am" in their autobiographical stories. In the second section, Lau Wai, Anne Golaz and Zeng Yicheng retell personal vignettes centered on important events in their life journeys. In the third section, Celine Liu and Romain Mader are blurring the boundaries between documentary and fiction through their reality-bending works. And the last one is a historical archeology in which Virginie Rebetez and Shi Zhen use "unreliable" video evidence to elaborate on individual and collective memories.

Photos at an exhibition hall in OCAT Shenzhen.

"Storytelling is important for human beings. It is a survival strategy and a way through which we make sense of a world which does not make sense," Pfrunder concluded.

“听我说——中瑞当代摄影中的新叙事”正在OCAT深圳馆展厅A、展厅B呈现。艺术家们以作者／摄影师／叙事者的角色，再次向观众发出 “听我说”的邀请，提出聆听的诉求，同时，也以“Follow Me”（跟我来）来试图招引观众成为新的叙述者。随着社交媒体日益渗入生活，每一位社交媒体的使用者都成为生活的讲述者。当讲述成为日常，纪实与虚构则留给彼此来考量。

此次展览由两位策展人彼得·福伦德和施瀚涛共同策划，共分为四部分。第一部分是对身份的探讨，大卫·法沃、Kimisa和萨尔瓦托雷·瓦塔伊尔在自传式的故事中发出“我是谁”的追问；在第二部分中，刘卫、安妮·格拉兹、曾忆城围绕着各自生命历程中的重要地点展开回忆与追寻；在展览的第三部分，刘思麟和罗曼·马德尔通过角色扮演模糊着虚构与纪实的边界；而展览在展厅B呈现的最后一部分则有着历史考古的意味，弗吉尼·瑞贝特和石真借助影像记录这种“不可靠”的证据探讨个人和集体的记忆。

参展艺术家作品的展示形式在摄影语言的基础上，因不同的叙事而各不相同，静态图像、动态影像、投影、灯箱、物件交织在一起，在空间中营造出一个想象的现实。

Dates: Until June 4, closed Mondays

Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Venue: OCAT Shenzhen, South Area, OCT-LOFT, Nanshan District (南山区华侨城创意文化园南区OCAT深圳馆)

Metro: Line 1 to Qiaocheng East Station (侨城东站), Exit A