Featuring 14 black and white photographs taken across his home town in Taiwan, the Taiwanese rock star uses Leica M6 & M7 with 28mm f2 Summicron lens, to portray ‘conceptual’ green, eco-friendly public spaces from his childhood. It is no coincidence that Wu Bai is also an Environmental Ambassador of Flower Expo, and this exhibition espouses its message too. Malaysia is the second station outside Taiwan, for this travelling exhibition.
As a celebrated Taiwanese rock star singer, song writer and producer — born in 1969 in Taipei City, Wu Bai grew up in Chiayi City. He travels extensively around Taiwan. He is the lead vocal and guitarist in Wu Bai & China Blue, a rock band which has gained huge fame across Mandarin speaking Asia and elsewhere. They began their music career by performing in pubs around Taiwan and are popularly known as ‘The Kings of Live Music’. His music has touched the hearts and souls of the common people, performing unforgettable live performances. He writes his own songs and those of many other popular Asian artists, including Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Faye Wang just to name a few and of course, has won numerous significant awards.
But enough about the music. Let's talk about the vision. Wu Bai’s love of photography unfolded as a part-time hobby. He started taking photos for the “More Earth” project in 2006, with an original selection of 40 black and white photographs, in analogue format, taken in his home town, Chiayi City. That exhibition of all 40 black and white images opened in Taipei, Taiwan last year to raise awareness of public eco-space.
Wu Bai introduces the exhibition story saying: "What we really want, what we actually own, the answer is lost in these films,”. He says he “always liked the smell of earth. Seeing people spread thick cement on the land unceasingly, it is like a woman with heavy makeup, whose face will crack sooner or later. The original skin needs to breathe, and it will fight back.”
During an earlier exhibition interview, he commented that he chose the title, “More Earth”, to draw attention to what should be a priority for the world, i.e. to have more earth (nature) and less concrete (manmade).
One of his favourite photographs “A woman walking along a new pedestrian walkway at Jia Yi railway station” shows a girl walking through traffic lights. (see picture). Through the image, he attempts to show the excess concrete in his birth place, which consumes the natural lungs of the city. He sees no reason for the government to have built that pedestrian crossing for such small populations, (such as that of Chiayi City). The singer/photographer is not convinced of the need to pour so much hard, dull, cold concrete over any city, an unnecessary step making the city lifeless, where it otherwise need not be. His images speak to these concerns.
Using the black & white medium, and a (very expensive) Leica, he showcases in the Malaysia exhibition, 14 images of the manmade concrete jungle existing today in Taiwan, juxtaposed against the thoughts of Mother Nature yesterday. Extending his musical theme, which centre mostly on love between individuals, these images are soft and emotive — sensitive, portraying the need of love to the world.
“More Earth” will travel to other international locations, promoting the awareness of eco-spaces in public spheres.
It is no coincidence that the organisers chose to show this exhibition at Shalini Ganendra Fine Art’s award winning green space, Gallery Residence. It is worth a viewing — if for nothing more than to gain an additional insight into nostalgic green thinking, in black and white, of a Rock Super Star, who takes pretty good images. It must be more than the camera.
“More Earth” photography exhibition by rock star, Wu Bai, at Shalini Ganendra Fine Art at Gallery Residence. February 15 – 29, 2012. (Organised by Leica Malaysia).
Shalini Ganendra Fine Art @ Gallery Residence
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