Zhe Chen (China): Bees
Inge Morath Award Recipient, 2011
They left their lives in the very wounds they had created for themselves.
- Virgil (Roman poet, 70BC – 19BC)
To jeopardize existence for existence itself: ‘Bees’ records a marginalized group of people in China, who, faced with chaos, violence, alienation and irredeemable loss in life, feel propelled to leave physical traces and markings on their bodies, in order to preserve and corroborate a pure and sensitive mind from within.
In 2010, having ‘The Bearable’ (a photo series documenting my own self-inflictions over the past 4 years) as my passport, I had the opportunity to develop a close relationship with some of these obstinate souls – the bees. During the process of exchanging secrets with them, I crossed paths with certain possibilities that were formerly untouched but towards which I had struggled greatly in my personal life. I’m struck by the unyielding actions and reactions that the bees carry on with while encountering sudden and acute emotional fluxes, and moved by the recurrent effort they make to recover … read more
[...] away, but Yuri still shooting.Allison Payne: College Bound (TIME LB: September 2011)Zhe Chen: Bees (Inge Morath Foundation: September 2011)Elinor Carucci: Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood (TIME LB: [...]
This documentary work is so intimate and touching. The approach I find it new, different and emotional. Also the theme is very intersting and unknown for me. Very pleased to see these images.
Extremely powerful and a brave way to face ones own complexities. Bravo!