Cao Zhen

    BAO KUN will attempt to inspire people to keep a photographic record of this constantly changing city at the sixth “My Town, My Home” exhibition at Guan Shanyue Art Museum.

    The Beijing-based photography critic has selected more than 200 exhibits from 11,000 works, which showcases Shenzhen in 2011. Seventy-nine local photographers submitted their works and only 30 photographers’ works were selected.

    Featured photos include locals enjoying the Univerisiade in August, the construction of Shenzhen North Railway Station, rural life in the outskirts of the city and foreign visitors during the Universiade.

    “The aim of the exhibition is not only to record the city’s infrastructural development, but also draw attention to the cultural life and interesting stories of the city’s ordinary people,” said Bao.

    The “Universiade Village” series by Chen Teli, a sophomore at Beijing Film Academy’s photography department, focuses on the vitality and diversity of life inside the Universiade Village.

    “I was touched to see the foreign athletes enjoying the food in the canteen. In China if guests are seen to be eating well, then the host is satisfied,” said Chen, who received her high school education in Shenzhen.

    “Seeing the foreigners enjoy some of the city’s theme parks made me appreciate how great an opportunity the Universiade had brought to the city,” said Chen.

    In Lin Haosheng’s “Fusion” series, the 63-year-old photographer takes viewers into a journey to the OCT-LOFT, an outdoor contemporary art space.

    “I enjoy taking pictures that blend the people, time and space,” said Lin. “Photographs have the ability to draw connections between people and their environment,” Lin added.

    In contrast to the photographers who focus on the urban, some photographers are more interested in the tranquil rural life in Bao’an and Longgang districts and some abandoned corners behind the skyscrapers in the more developed parts of the city.

    Lu Xiang, a 65-year-old photographer, lived in the villages of Shazui, Tianbei and Baishizhou in the 1990s. “The old buildings in the villages are vanishing, so this year I revisited them to see exactly how things had changed,” said Lu.

    “After 20 years of struggling to make a living in Shenzhen, the migrants in the villages and their descendants have integrated,” said Lu.

    Surely the exhibits in many ways epitomize fragmented moments of the city’s development. The works displayed at the exhibition may give future generations a sense of nostalgia when they are stored in the city’s archives.

    Dates: Until Dec. 24

    Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed Monday

    Venue: Guan Shanyue Art Museum (关山月美术馆)

    Add: 6026 Hongli Road, Futian District (福田区红荔路6026号)

    Metro: Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit F