I recently stumbled across a blog post whose intriguing photos caught my eye. They were the work of John Clang, a Chinese artist from Singapore who splits his time between there and NYC. In his project “Beijing NYC,”В Clang took photos of ordinary Beijing citizens, printed and cut them out, then taped the tiny figures onto different locations around NYC. The juxtapositions are striking.
For me, the actual Chinese citizens being used [in the photographs] demonstrate a dream yet to be fulfilled.
As the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants who came to NYC many years ago, I think that’s what drew me to these photos and made them feel so poignant. Plus, there’s something both wistful and whimsical about them that really depict feeling like a stranger in a new place.
(Photos by John Clang via Open City)
These are really interesting! They call to mind some work I saw earlier in the year where an artist used tiny figurines in street photography to shoot set scenes.
If you remember the artist’s name, please share, Peggy!
I think it was Christopher Boffoli – have a google?