Made In China
Mark’s first book was published by Generation-Yacht. The book was launched at The Photographers’ Gallery, London, in 2008. The first edition is sold out.
In 2007 Mark headed to Beijing to document the transition from a historical city to soon-to-be Olympic hosts. Captured with a 10x8 field camera Mark turned his eye to the mundanity of everyday life.
In the year 2008, Beijing, the city of Kublai Khan, the Qin dynasty, the Forbidden Palace and the Great Wall of China prepares to host the next great Olympiad.
This is the first time such an event will be staged in modern China. It will catapult this teeming metropolis into the future.
9,000,000 inhabitants try to lead normal lives while 10,000,000 square metres of the city have become a vast construction site. 148 kilometres of railways and subways as well as the fifth and sixth ring roads newly girdle them.
Dusty, dirty, old Beijing is a city in waiting. This pollution capital of the world is on the brink of resembling the set from Bladerunner. Much of its charming unworldliness will undoubtedly disappear beneath forests of concrete.
The shroud of smog belies the city’s desire for modernity. It does, however, provide the backdrop for Mark’s quiet, obsessive, observational images. They peer back into Beijing’s past.
No detail is left out. His panoramic photographs never try to disguise the truth. They are not stage managed to please the viewers’ aesthetic eye.
He shows us everything. How real people really live. His fascination is for the fabric of everyday.
These images are proof that the minutiae of life is ultimately the most arresting. - Mark Reddy
