JIANG ZHI – LOVE LETTERS 2015
64 pages. Hardcover 19x24cm
Exist in the limited edition of 200 copies with a photograph signed by the artist.
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This series of photographs questions the subjectivity of the image and how each one might have a different perception of a reality according to his own memories…
Jiang Zhi’s flowers ‘die’ before our eyes –set aflame, they are on the brink of death, not yet devoured. It is this ‘decisive moment’ we see –a fleeting, brazen instant, of mortality in a nutshell.
Time is caught in its flight: each photograph is a powerful memento mori, like a time capsule, Jiang Zhi’s photography explores the metaphysics of mortality. He makes us reconsider the ephemeral, the evanescent nature of things. Death and love are melted together reminiscent of the myth of Eros and Thanatos, but here, beauty overrides the macabre. In a very subtle and nuanced way, Jiang Zhi infuses this curse of death with touches of elegance.
Most poignantly, these flowers are anthropomorphic, humanized. These photographs are portraits filled with nonchalance, grace, or pride. We may identify with the flowers, recognize in their poise our own mortal selves and pursuits. Just as we are part of nature, the flowers are us, in an eternal cycle of growth and decay –of life and death, universally.
