Cheng Xinhao: The recipient of Shiseido Award 2015 TSPA

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Cheng Xinhao was born in Yunnan in 1985. He received his PhD on Chemistry from Peking University in 2013. Since then, he returned to Yunnan and worked as an artist.

Exhibitions:

Water from Different Sources (Out and Home - Dha Tsang Art Space Academic Exhibition, Kunming, 2014)
The Documentary of a Village (Collision between Generations - Exhibition of Contemporary Photography of the 60's to the 90's from Yunnan Province, Qujing, Kunming, Mengzi, 2014)
The Documentary of a Village ("Nomination Exhibition" unit, 1st Beijing Photo Biennial, Beijing, 2013)
A Book of My Hometown ("The Way Home" exhibition, Destination Culture Space, Beijing, 2013)
The Naming of a River ("Home and Destination" exhibition, Destination Culture Space, Beijing, 2012)
Four Cities (Group exhibitions, The 11th China Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, 2011)

Foundations:

"Mang" was funded by Sina Photo Foundation in 2014.
"The Documentary of a Village" was funded by Ofpix Foundation in 2012.

ABOUT THE WORK

The naming of a river

The Panlong River is less than 100 km in length, and is the cradle of Kunming’s civilization. In human timescale, the landscape along the river has been ever changing: forests to farmlands, farmlands to suburbs, and suburbs to cities. It sounds to me like the only thing that remains unchanged is the river itself.

However, in geological timescale, even the river evolves naturally. On top of the water environment, the maze-like river branches we saw from the ancient map is not there anymore, except for very few ones. And if we trace further back in geological times, even the river might had not existed. I feel this is like what has said by T. S. Eliot: "Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth."

The river presents itself so differently at various times and spaces, and thrives on every one of them. Therefore what I can feel about the river is only its projection within my lifetime and my living quarters, and apparently a metamorphic slice. I tried to be objective towards naming of it, but all I obtained is still the most personal treasures. These pieces of my treasure are the specimens about the river in various time/space dimensions. They interweave and consolidate into another equally complex river -- a river named by me.