China Dream
Teresa Eng
Skinnerboox
English/Chinese
Hardcover gatefold and booklet
112 pages
220 x 290mm
2019
ISBN 9788894895285
‘China Dream’ explores the fractured identity of the second generation diaspora as they’re straddled their birth country and their motherland. Teresa Eng, whose parents immigrated to Canada from China via Hong Kong, sought out to explore her ancestral homeland between 2013-2017. Teresa’s cultural knowledge of a country which she has never lived, contrasts with the reality of a country in flux. Eng witnessed constant cycles of construction, destruction and reconstruction across multiple cities and its surrounding towns. This inspired the stripped back colours of her images which were achieved in the darkroom.
Each visit offered an insight to a country that is in the process of building its future while simultaneously reconstructing and reinterpreting its past, creating a new type of culture. Historical monuments and buildings, destroyed during Cultural Revolution are being rebuilt haphazardly – often as facsimiles of the originals.
‘China Dream’ – the title of a patriotic calendar found at a newsagents –was also a term popularised in 2013 by General Secretary Xi Jinping. It also alludes to the American Dream, where hard work and entrepreneurial spirit will lift up each individual and the nation into prosperity.
About the Artist
Teresa Eng is interested in the ever-changing world and its relationship to history. Her introspective nature has led her revisit a particular subject over a period of time, revisiting a place over several months to a few years. This temporal and physical distance allows her process to her thoughts while allowing new and existing strands of ideas to merge together. Teresa’s projects explore the fragmentation of identity in the diaspora communities and in the digital world, the psychological state of trauma, and the changing nature of neighbourhood and cities. Teresa was awaded 2019 Burtynksy Grant and a finalist for 2019 Aperture Portfolio Prize and the Hyéres 33e festival of fashion and photography. Her first book, “Speaking of scars’, was shortlisted for the 2013 Aperture/Paris Photo First Book Award.
About the Publisher
Skinner Boox is a small independent publishing house focused on contemporary photography.
