Chinese Turkistan with Ryan Pyle
Chinese Turkistan
Artist Reception and Lecture: 28 February 2008 6:00pm until 9:00pm
Ryan Pyle has been visiting China's western Xinjiang province regularly since 2001. But it wasn't until a recent trip in 2006 that he decided to begin to focus his camera on this mysterious and remote part of the world.
Formerly known as Chinese Turkistan, this vast expanse of deserts and mountains has seemingly always been at a crossroads between cultures and time. For centuries criminals, holy men, and traders tramped across the region; and it was out of this tradition that the silk road was established.
Surrounded on three sides by some of the highest mountain ranges in the world, with the Gobi desert blocking the fourth, Chinese Turkistan is one of the most isolated places on earth.
Ryan, in his project, has begun to look at life in this region. Drawn by its abundance of life, colorful minorities, harsh landscapes and Islam; Ryan visits mosques, local herdsmen, farming communities and former silk road trading posts trying to capture what he feels is a culture under threat from China's breakneck growth in the region.
"The culture is vanishing before my eyes", Ryan says, "each time I return something is missing: a market, an old shop full of blacksmiths, a local mosque." Traveling only with a Uygur translator, Ryan feels that the importance of capturing this culture is paramount because it is disappearing. "No other country in the world is knocking down old buildings faster to make way for new hotels, highways and airports than China. A few more years and there might not be much left at all; the whole country, from Beijing to Kashgar, is starting to look the same. A pity really, the cultural diversity being lost is not something that can be faked, or easily brought back. This cultural fabric will be lost forever."
The lecture will begin at 6:00pm on Thursday the 28th of February 2008 and last approximately one half hour. After the lecture there will be an opening reception that will run until 9:00pm.
This very limited show and lecture will be on Ryan Pyle's most recent work in the Kashgar / Hotan region.
Ryan Pyle Biography
Ryan Pyle is a Canadian born freelance documentary photographer, based in Shanghai, China.Born in Toronto, Canada Ryan spent his early years close to home. After obtaining a degree in International Politics from the University of Toronto in 2001, Ryan fled to China on an exploratory mission. In 2002 Ryan moved to China permanently and began taking freelance assignments in 2003.
In 2004 Ryan became a regular contributors to the New York Times covering China, where he has covered issues ranging from rural healthcare, bird flu and environmental degradation. More recently he has branched out in to mostly magazine work, expanding his portfolio to include the Sunday Times Magazine, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Forbes and Newsweek.
Ryan is a reportage style photographer, working almost exclusively in 35mm format range finder cameras. His work drifts between journalism and fine art as he roams through China shedding light on the country and its diverse people.