This photo shows a visitor taking pictures of an exhibit at Italian photographer Andrea Cavazzuti's "At Eye Level" exhibition in One Art Museum in Beijing, capital of China, April 15, 2023. (Xinhua)
BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Stepping into Beijing's One Art Museum during the May Day holiday, visitors were transported back to China in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to a special exhibition of captivating photos from the era.
The subject matter included black-and-white TVs, old bicycles, comic books in a grocery store, simple and lively playgrounds, as well as youngsters clad in clothes that would be considered plain by today's standards.
For some, the exhibition was educational, showing a period they remember vaguely, if at all. For others, however, it stirred memories of a key period in China's development.
At the heart of the show were 88 photographs taken by Italian photographer, Andrea Cavazzuti, during the 1980s and 1990s. His images, captured across China, provide an unadorned and peaceful perspective on ordinary life at the time, hence the show's title: "At Eye Level."
Among the visitors was Liang Heping, a Chinese musician, who confirmed the photographer's "eye-level" approach to conveying everyday life during the period.
Cavazzuti's love affair with China began in Italy, when he enrolled at the Ca'Foscari University of Venice to study Chinese.
"The square characters fascinated me and reading China's ancient prose was particularly interesting," he said.
In 1981, Cavazzuti came to China for a short period of study, and the following year he studied at Fudan University in Shanghai. Since then, he has formed an indissoluble bond with the foreign land.
After graduation, he traveled around the beautiful mountains and rivers of China carrying his camera. He took in the colorful folk customs of the locals, and recorded a vast and diverse China that was little known to the wider world at that time.
After China entered the period of reform and opening-up, and Chinese people started becoming wealthier, Cavazzuti began to record the subtle changes in their daily lives.
In 1990, he photographed a small restaurant in north China's Hebei Province with a simple menu painted on the wall: "North-south flavor, all kinds of stir-fried dishes, seasonal snacks and all kinds of pasta." On the doorstep hung a sign reading "nutritious bread."
Cavazzuti's photo shows a saleswoman sitting at a table by the door, packing the bread into plastic bags.
"People's consumption has since then become more diversified and bread has begun to integrate into the local catering structure in China," he explained.
This mobile phone photo shows a man visiting Italian photographer Andrea Cavazzuti's "At Eye Level" exhibition in One Art Museum in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Luo Xin)
Through the window of a clothing store in Shanghai, two mannequins, a male and a female, can be seen. They are wearing Western-style suits, which were quite rare at that time, and their facial expressions seem to be full of innocence and longing. Cavazzuti's image shows the mannequins in a head-and-shoulders view.
"The same shop window was also photographed by a Japanese photographer whose photos show the whole upper part of the body, but obviously, Cavazzuti's photo better reflects the features of people's living conditions and their spirit during that period," wrote the curator in the exhibition brochure.
"Some foreigners take photos with the attitude of 'hunting for novelty,' which is not only visually unsightly, but also not conducive to showing a real China," Cavazzuti said.
After seeing Cavazzuti's works, Tang Hui, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, said, "In the 1980s, there were many foreign photographers interested in China, but unlike most people, Andrea put more time and effort into this land."
Tang Hui, a mural painting professor from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, said, "There are no exaggerated dramatic details through his lens, no passionate and grand narrative, only the natural presentation of the details of life during that era and a subtle interest in aesthetic form."
In 1981, in Beijing Zhongshan Park, crowds gathered to see the "Lunar Rocket" entertainment facility that was introduced from Japan. Cavazzuti captured children playing in the hot sun while their parents watched and chatted. Their facial expressions are so vivid that their laughter seems to float out of the photo.
"Get rid of preconceived ideas and treat yourself as an ordinary member of the environment. In this way, you can easily spot the beauty nearby," the Italian explained.
In recent times, he photographed a taxi driver whose work took him to the art community in Songzhuang, in Beijing's Tongzhou District. The driver asked some of the artists to sign his taxi, and Cavazzuti used this story to comment on the artists' current situation.
The Italian has also followed local art performers and inheritors of traditional folk culture across China in a bid to record scenes that are disappearing.
Cavazzuti says that China's material civilization has developed rapidly due to reform and opening-up. However, he says the disadvantage of globalization is that more and more things have become "standardized."
Such changes may have left some imprints on China, says the Italian, but he believes that the country still retains its colorful culture, which is worth recording through his lens. ■
