Stealing the Soul

In addition to painting, another familiar form of visual arts is photography.  Technically, photograph is an image created by light projected onto a light sensitive material.   Indeed with the advances in science and technology, the devices and making of photography have come a long way since the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce took the first photograph in1814 using a camera obscura made by Charles and Vincent Chevalier in Paris.  For the purpose of our discussion here, we will just focus on the static 2-dimensional images and ignore videos/movies or 3-D images that are created with a sequence or multiple related images. 

My first experience of photo taking dated back to my secondary school days when my late sister got a Yashica twin-lens reflex (TLR) film camera (probably a model Mat 12 or 24).  Years later I got a Minolta SR-T101 SLR film camera as a gift from the family when I left home for U.S.  The expectation was clear – take some photos and let us know how you are doing, which I did.  Since then I have been taking photos of family events and during trips like many.  I wasn’t immune to the digital camera revolution either, having gone thorough few point-and-shoots and a compact super zoom camera with a less than $400 dollar budget each. 

Eventually I reached a point when I began to ask myself:  am I going to continue staying at the level of selecting a scene and pressing the button?  What make a photo great?  What distinguish a good or great photographer?  What can the (digital) dark room do in the process of creating a photo?  Here is where I am at, halfway through my 15 weeks digital photography class with a Nikon D5000 entry level digital SLR camera, shooting in RAW format and editing with Photoshop CS5, and creating presentations in custom-cut mattes. 

It has been a truly enjoyable and rewarding experience.  Most importantly I am no longer slave to the technology and I am taking back control of the device – the camera.  We go back to the basic and shoot in manual mode and set aperture, shutter speed and ISO (sometimes) with the aid of built-in light meter.   We practice with themes like still life, portrait, light, etc. that forces one to think and observe with sensitivity before one press the button.  We learn to control the depth of field to deliver what we want to tell the viewers. We appreciate the framing and impact of different choices of perspectives and placement of subjects.  Beyond these two attributes of craft and construction, we began to develop a sense of the third attribute - content - through discussions, critiques and shooting assignments. 

One way to appreciate the fluid concept of content is to ask yourself what do you want to express and how well does the photo communicate the message.  It has been reported throughout the history of photography that some people are afraid of being photographed for a variety of reasons.  The most often quoted reason was that it would steal the person’s soul.  I would like to think that a great photo must capture the state of the soul of the subject and that moment in a larger context of time and place.   Further, it must communicate and connect the feeling and emotion with the viewers through the visual image without sound or text, and yet, leaves sufficient space for imagination.  Possessing with those qualities, a great photo will transcend the time and space and become a permanent part of human history.   Below are few examples of great photographs.

William Albert Allard (1937- ), one of the greatest photojournalists, published the photo below in 1982 on the National Geography.  It was taken when he traveled in Peru and saw this boy Eduardo whose family sheep had just been cut down by a hit-and-run taxi.  Have you ever seen a human face that is so frightened, so broken, so helpless, and so desperate?   When the photo was published, many readers spontaneously sent in donations to help the boy and his family without any prodding.

Another example is the following photo shown in a Retrospect Exhibit recently held at MoMA (Museum of Modern Arts in New York) of the work by the renowned photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004).  He took this photo in Shanghai in Dec 1948, 10 months before mainland China fell into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party after years of a bloody civil war.  This black and white photo captured the run on bank after the Nationalist Government’s Currency Reform with Gold Yuan instituted in August of 1948 failed to slow down the hyperinflation in that country.  You can see clearly the mass panic on people’s faces.  While juggling the position and defending the line, some looked to the camera with puzzle, probably wondering why this foreigner is taking pictures when the world is collapsing around them.

 

Then there is the photographer and conservationist Ansel Easton Adams (1902 – 1984) whose black and white landscape photos of the west helped persuade many to protect the nature and to establish, among others, the Yosemite National Park.  Here is his shot of the iconic Half Dome of Yosemite.  Wouldn’t you want to see this natural beauty and enjoy the parks and sceneries of the Sierra Nevada?

Before I go, here are few of the better ones of my class work so far.  The first one is an exercise with still life.  The good and bad thing is that they can’t change their expressions and thus the photographer can freely make arrangement of the objects to project his or her own expressions.

The second one is a portrait.  Now there is one more huge variable, thus the challenge, which is the expression and interaction of the individual with the environment. 

Last one is an exercise with light.  Similar to what impressionists had noted, the importance of capturing the statement of light in photography simply cannot be overstated.

By now, you can see that I have a long way to go but that makes it fun and worthwhile, doesn’t it?  Talk to you soon!

Practice with Oil Painting: my 2nd Year

After finishing a few portraits of my immediate family, I took a break and began to experiment with landscape.  An obvious choice for a themed series is to paint the four seasons which builds on easy observations and yet provides rich enough space for imaginations and practice.

What do we think of the four seasons?  What emotions do they invoke?  Spring:  beginning, growth, nurturing, anticipation;   Summer: full of life, vibrant, energy, enjoyment, celebration; Fall: maturity, over the hill, decline, retrospective, regret, separation; Winter: cold, hidden, hibernation, cleansing, hope.   Below are my first attempts of the four seasons through somewhat abstracted landscape.  No need to describe it in more words.  Just stare at the photos below for a little while and then tell me what you see and feel.

 Recently, we visited the Whitney Museum of American Art for a special exhibit of Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield.   Charles Burchfield (1893-1967) is an American master who is best known for his water color work of landscapes.  Unlike many of his more popular and well-known contemporaries who flocked to Paris, sparked and bounced off each other the modernism movements, Burchfield derived his paintings quietly from his inner feelings alone of the nature he saw and felt.  From his work, you can tell that he had never left his roots of Salem, Ohio where he was born and grew up, and rural upper New York near Buffalo where he lived till he passed away.  Within the dark, gloomy, and mystic landscape of his paintings that are interspersed with symbols from time to time, we can always find a glimpse of brightness and hope.   Below is his wonderful 1917 work at age 24, titled The Four Season – all in just one painting.  What a talent!

Talk to you soon!

Individual vs. Social Interests

On Oct 8^th, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to the jailed Chinese dissident  Liu Xiaobo 劉曉波 “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.”  

In its press release, the Committee further elaborated its decision and pointed out that China must fulfill its increased responsibility as it continues to make enormous economic advances.   The Committee went on to conclude that “through the severe punishment meted out to him, Liu has become the foremost symbol of this wide-ranging struggle for human rights in China.”  It cannot be more clear than that the award is more a strong and opportune criticism of the Chinese Government than a shinny recognition of the beliefs that Liu has stood and fought for (in non-violent means).   

It is not the first time in the history of Nobel Peace Prize when individuals were singled out for what they stood up believed in and fought against the suppression and overwhelming pressure by the system and authority.  They include, just to name a few in reverse chronological order,  Nelson Mandela of South Africa in 1993, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myamar in 1991, Lech Wałęsa of Poland in 1982, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel  of Argentina in 1980 , Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov  of USSR in 1975, and I would include Martin Luther King, Jr. of U.S.A. in 1964 as well.   

We owe it to Liu XiaoBo who is still in jail that we don’t stop at reading and echoing the news headlines, or the superficial praises, or the biographies of Liu’s.  Let us dig a little deeper and appreciate the enormity of the issues at stake which has been oversimplified down to few buzz words like Human Rights and Democracy.  After all, we are talking about the welfare of 20% of world population whose collective behavior will affect the stability and prosperity of the whole world. 

While public debates of political reform has been going on in China for almost three decades (with a brief pause after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest and crackdown) once the economic reform was moving along in early 80’s.  It wasn’t until December 10, 2008, the 60^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that the first comprehensive and concrete proposal -  Charter 08《零八憲章》was drafted and published by Liu XiaoBo and some of his fellow activists (Liu was arrested, tried, sentenced, and jailed since for “inciting subversion of state power”) .  In this manifesto, Liu XiaoBo and his co-authors made specific demands of:

1. Amending the Constitution修改憲法
2. Separation of powers 分權制衡
3. Legislative democracy 立法民主
4. An independent judiciary 司法獨立
5. Public control of public servants 公器公用
6. Guarantee of human rights 人權保障
7. Election of public officials 公職選舉
8. Rural–urban equality 城鄉平等
9. Freedom of association 結社自由
10. Freedom of assembly 集會自由
11. Freedom of expression 言論自由
12. Freedom of religion 宗教自由
13. Civic education 公民教育
14. Protection of private property 財產保護
15. Financial and tax reform 財稅改革
16. Social security 社會保障
17. Protection of the environment 環境保護
18. A federated republic 聯邦共和
19. Truth in reconciliation 轉型正義

There is no doubt that these 19 by 4 characters demands were heavily influenced by and taken largely from the Western (European-American) development and experience.   This is not a total surprise as Liu XiaoBo has been a devoted writer and activist who has been consistently advocating for what often referred to as Western democracy and ideals.   

To understand better Liu XiaoBo’s without easy access to his writings, we can get some insights from what he has been critical of.   Liu attracted attention first in 1987 at an age of 32 when he published his work of Critique on Choices - Dialogue with Li Zehou 《選擇的批判—與李澤厚對話》in which he argued strongly for individual rights in contrasting and challenging the views of Li Zehou 李澤厚, another pro-democracy scholar who has been one of the most respected and influential contemporary Chinese philosophers and intellect.   This invites the question of are there fundamental and important differences among different schools of thought under the banner of liberty and democracy?  Are there multiple paths to reach these goals and what are ways to implement them?  Which one of them is more viable and more likely to succeed?

The now 80 years old Li Zehou distinguishes himself with a more evolutionary and experimental approach as he often expresses his justified concerns for hasty reforms that could lead to confusion, chaos, and disrupt the stability and economic advances of the country.   His doubt and lack of confidence on the readiness of the mass may be a realistic assessment but his worst case scenario of a disintegrated China seems unwarranted.   With such cautionary reminders, Li is considered “conservative” by some as his leaning can be construed as prolonging the status-quo of the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party although there is no evidence that it is ever his intention.   Li has also been criticized for his framework of reform in four phases implemented over time – economic development 經濟發展, liberty 個人自由, social justice 社會正義, democratization 政治民主 (see e.g., 李澤厚、易中天對話, Sept 2010). Again, the implication is that he appears to believe that liberty and justice can be achieved under an authoritarian regime.  And he is not alone on this, I am sure of it.

 

If we dig a little deeper, there are more significant and fundamental differences in various models.  In pushing for more rapid socio-political reforms, Liu XiaoBo and his fellow activists place European-American thinking and experiences at a central and dominant position.  Such a school of thought is considered more radical by some and has been characterized as a “Westernization全盤西化” approach by Li Zehou. In other words, it is a transplantation of western ideals and core values and implementation of them in Chinese society. 

What Li Zehou proposes instead is what he called a Fuse of Western and Chinese Values 西體中用.  The essence of Li Zehou’s at the philosophical and intellectual level was summarized in his 1999 paper Modernization and the Confucian World where he argued that Confucianism will be divided into two – social morals and religious morals.  While the religious morals such as harmony, cooperation and family values will be retained, social morals such as individual autonomy and human rights need to be replaced with modern notions (from the west). 

Li is vague in terms of the details however.  For instance it is difficult to envision that western legalistic system can serve as the last line of defense in his paradigm when Confucianism calls for the emphasis of social order and harmony at the expenses of individual rights.  It appears he and most Chinese probably do not realize that the western judicial system is not constructed to pass judgment of what is right or wrong but to merely determine if it is legal or not.  This is completely foreign to the Chinese culture and tradition that Li and many are hoping to preserve or at minimum serving as a foundation during the long transition. 

When all said and done, the most important difference between their propositions is that while Liu subscribes to the Libertarian theory that human rights follows from the natural law, Liu rejects it as universal truth and timeless and called it “anti-historical”.  That is, the significance of history cannot be discounted and must be a part of the core value reality.  In another word, the rights are earned and shaped by the standing environment and circumstances.  The implication is that in Liu’s paradigm, Chinese Communist Party has no right to intrude on the human rights but in Li’s paradigm it can with legitimate reasons.  

This brings us to the central and practical issue of the whole debate: how to balance and resolve conflicts between the individual and social interests which can be translated into how to balance the individual rights and state power.  Government exists because of the needs to represent the social interest including security, economical and political.  Different forms of governments are simply different ways to handle this issue and there is no perfect form of it.  It is a choice (of people) and continuous refinements are needed as the reality changes as.  Extreme points of the spectrum neglecting individual or social interests such as anarchism, collectivism, totalitarian, etc. are clearly non-starters.  Benevolent authoritarian government (a popular dream among many Chinese) may be found once in a while but never lasts since such a system depends solely on the transient competence, diligence, and virtue of the ruling party.  It is built with an open invitation to corruptions and disrespects of individual rights in the name of the social interest.  

Most developed western countries today, as exemplified by U.S., implements a (one man one vote) democratic political systems, completed with a blend of capitalism and socialism that is codified by an elected legislative and adjudicated by a judicial system.  It has shortcomings and traps such as populism, tyranny of majority, and less efficient and responsive as due process overrides expediency.  Such a system gained legitimacy and is admired by many in the world for their advocacy (some may consider them lip services) of universal values such as human rights.  What is often neglected in the abstract discussions is the economic power and wealth created and cumulated by these countries over the past centuries.  One cannot help but wonder if we are envious of the economic achievement or the shinny principles and values?  

In a recent interview, Li Zehou was thrilled about his sense of freedom derived from the financial independence and security after he spent years in U.S. making a living as a writer and faculty.  I am sure many Chinese-American immigrants have had similar experiences as the famous writer Ha Jin aptly and avidly depicted in his 2007 novel A Fee Life through the main character Wu Nan.  That is, for most mortals, the true sense of freedom comes after when you appreciate of what you have, not what you don’t have.  

I agree with Li Zehou that economic development is the priority and Chinese government must continue to pay attention to raising the total wealth of the society with limited parity.  I do realize that Li Zehou’s thoughts and views might be more appealing to many Chinese as he advocates the adaptation rather than abandonment and replacement of the Chinese traditional culture and values.   But he and others will be surprised to find out there is very little time before the serious demands for liberty and political right reaches the boiling point, following the rise of economic power.  Instead of denial and dragging its feet, Chinese government must take a concerted effort to begin implementing and experimenting with socio-political reforms.  Liu XiaoBo’s Charter 08 is a good starting reference.  Hopefully China will find its own and most effective ways to approximate the ideal society and figure out a way to maintain the proper balance of individual and social interests.  This is not done for any abstract purposes;  this is urgently needed to sustain the economic advancement.

 

Talk to you soon!