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楊延康攝影作品展 The Photography of Yang Yankang
藏傳佛教Buddhism in Tibet
開幕時(shí)間：2008年5月24日15：00
展期：2008年5月24日至2008年6月
電話：010-64381784/64375284
電郵: 798@798photogallery.cn
網(wǎng)址：www.798photogallery.cn
地址：北京朝陽區(qū)酒仙橋路4號(hào)798工廠內(nèi)大山子藝術(shù)區(qū)百年印象攝影畫廊
Opening time: May.24 3:00pm ,2008
Exhibition time:May.24,2008 –Jun. 2008
Tel:8610-64381784/64375284
E-mail:798@798photogallery.cn
Web：www.798photogallery.cn
Add:No4,Jiu xianqiao road,Chao Yang district, BeiJing.
DIRECTION: 798 PHOTO GALLERY
楊延康的視覺信仰
楊小彥
就在楊延康獲得首屆“沙飛攝影獎(jiǎng)”的“創(chuàng)作獎(jiǎng)”之後，我陪楊延康去中山大學(xué)傳播與設(shè)計(jì)學(xué)院給同學(xué)做講座。我記得當(dāng)時(shí)的場(chǎng)面，楊延康的圖片在銀幕上出現(xiàn)時(shí)，學(xué)生的反應(yīng)是頗為熱烈的，尤其當(dāng)中那些以苦難為主題的作品，引起了同學(xué)們的興趣。在提問時(shí)，楊延康談到了對(duì)苦難的偏好。在他看來，苦難的意義無疑和信仰密切相關(guān)?；蛘哒h，正是因?yàn)榭嚯y的普遍存在，信仰才具有了永恒的價(jià)值。同學(xué)們也許不一定能完全理解到楊延康的意思，但是，這些80後的新一代人，當(dāng)他們果然有機(jī)會(huì)從自我優(yōu)越的環(huán)境中目睹現(xiàn)實(shí)的苦難時(shí)，當(dāng)他們開始通過苦難意識(shí)到信仰的意義時(shí)，我想楊延康的工作也就找到了一個(gè)歸宿，那就是通過苦難去昇華人生。
楊延康進(jìn)入攝影，本身就是一個(gè)傳奇。當(dāng)然，我不願(yuàn)意把他成功的故事描述為一個(gè)盡人皆知的通俗版本。在我看來，支撐著楊延康持續(xù)工作的是一種來自內(nèi)心深處的信念，就像他自己反覆述説的那樣，一種對(duì)苦難的特殊“僻好”，一種希望通過對(duì)苦難的直視與攝取，來進(jìn)入人性的深處，從而建構(gòu)屬於每一個(gè)個(gè)體，尤其是那些長(zhǎng)年生活在不幸與苦難當(dāng)中的個(gè)體的尊嚴(yán)。正是這一長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)目標(biāo)，驅(qū)使他從一個(gè)苦難走到另一個(gè)苦難：麻瘋病人、流浪群體、陜西天主教，和現(xiàn)在整個(gè)藏區(qū)的底層生存狀態(tài)。
我雖然認(rèn)識(shí)楊延康時(shí)間很長(zhǎng)，但從來沒有和他聊過從事攝影的動(dòng)機(jī)。在我看來，我似乎覺得不需要和他交流這一類的資訊。他的幾大類別的作品和長(zhǎng)期的工作已經(jīng)告訴我，他工作的理由與基點(diǎn)是什麼。
楊延康一拿起相機(jī)就自覺加入到紀(jì)實(shí)的隊(duì)伍，這説明他沒有什麼“唯美”的負(fù)擔(dān)。對(duì)他來説，尋找一種純粹的影像感可能更重要。他希望鏡頭有一種穿透力，而這種穿透力顯然來自對(duì)象，而不是來自個(gè)人的幻想。所以，楊延康一開始就對(duì)底層感興趣。但是，直到某一天，他和幾個(gè)朋友來到廣東沿海的麻瘋村，我想他才找到了真正的感覺。他所目睹的對(duì)象告訴他，什麼叫生存，什麼叫生命，什麼叫忍耐。顯然，是現(xiàn)實(shí)的力量而不是別的什麼，讓楊延康的鏡頭變得尖銳了，讓他的影像與尊嚴(yán)有了深度的對(duì)應(yīng)。
重要的是，不幸本身通過楊延康的鏡頭走向了終極，那就是信仰。人們的尊嚴(yán)是靠信仰來建立的，否則很難想像他們能戰(zhàn)勝生命的脆弱。人們之所以沒有被擊垮，就是因?yàn)樗麄兺ㄟ^信仰獲得了永恒的力量，使他們能夠拋棄苦難而達(dá)到平靜。這種力量，楊延康在西北貧窮的農(nóng)村看到了，他用工作來告訴世人，他所看到的現(xiàn)實(shí)，對(duì)個(gè)人心靈究竟産生了怎樣的震撼。然後，他繼續(xù)深入到這令人震撼的現(xiàn)實(shí)中。這一回他走向更為遙遠(yuǎn)也更為精神性的家園所在，那就是西藏。他繼續(xù)在那兒尋找心靈的體驗(yàn)，尋找尊嚴(yán)，尋找信仰。
每天不知有多少人進(jìn)藏拍照。西藏奇異的自然和族群，可能是全世界熱愛攝影的人們的重要對(duì)象，這表明西藏已經(jīng)成為世界上生産異國(guó)情調(diào)精神樂團(tuán)的“幻覺圖像”的原生地。結(jié)果是，真實(shí)的西藏消失了，真實(shí)的西藏人的普通生活，他們的苦難，他們的歡樂，還有他們真正的尊嚴(yán)給改寫了。西藏越是吸引人，真實(shí)的西藏就離開人們的視線越遠(yuǎn)。這是一個(gè)奇特的案例，也是吸引楊延康以及和他一樣擁有堅(jiān)定信仰的人們的根本原因。對(duì)楊延康而言，他希望通過自己的紮實(shí)工作，還原一個(gè)真實(shí)的西藏，一個(gè)讓人無法回避的、同時(shí)有著鐵一樣尊嚴(yán)的西藏。
這讓我不期然地想起首屆“沙飛攝影獎(jiǎng)”對(duì)楊延康獲獎(jiǎng)理由的陳述，那段陳述對(duì)人們理解楊延康的作品及其背後的價(jià)值是有幫助的，也相當(dāng)精彩地概括了楊延康工作的全部意義。
我明白，其實(shí)我們無須對(duì)楊延康的影像説太多的話。我相信，人們完全可以從他的影像中發(fā)現(xiàn)比語言更重要的內(nèi)容。一旦人們認(rèn)識(shí)到楊延康在視覺與信仰之間的轉(zhuǎn)換時(shí)，他們一定會(huì)和我一樣，發(fā)現(xiàn)許多評(píng)價(jià)會(huì)變得多餘。除了體驗(yàn)，我們真的無須再説什麼。因?yàn)椋鎸?duì)信仰，面對(duì)由信仰而産生的視覺體驗(yàn)，本身無法用語言來表述。這時(shí)，所有人都會(huì)同意，只有作品才是最可靠的載體，讓信仰在其中閃耀。
2008-3-31-廣東東莞
Yang Yankang’s Visual Faith
By Yang Xiaoyan
Shortly after Yang Yankang was awarded the “Prize of Creation” of the 1st “Shafei Photography Award”, I accompanied him to the School of Broadcast and Design of Zhongshan University to give a lecture to the students there. I still remember the enthusiasm from the students when Yang Yankang’s photos appeared on the screen, and those on the subject of misery aroused special interest. In an answer to a question, he talked about his preference for that subject. In his view, the meaning of misery is undoubtedly closely related with faith. Or, in other words, it is because misery exists everywhere that faith is worth eternity. The students might not understand what he said, but when these young people born after 1980 and brought up in a well-off environment have a chance to see misery in reality with their own eyes, and begin to catch the meaning of faith through misery, I think Yang Yankang’s work will reach its destination which is to transcend life through misery.
It is a legend that Yang Yankang entered the realm of photography. I certainly don’t want to tell his success story in a cliche version. In my opinion, what supports Yang’s continuous work is a faith from deep inside, just as he himself has repeated, a special “preference” for misery, a hope to dig into humanity through facing and picturing misery, and to establish a dignity that belongs to each individual, especially to those who live in misfortune and misery for a long time. It is this long-term goal that has pushed him from one misery to another including patients of Hansen’s Disease, wanderers, Shaanxi Catholics, and the grassroots existence of the whole Tibetan area.
Though I have known Yang Yankang for quite a long time, we have never talked about his motivation of becoming a photographer. As I see it, I don’t seem to need to talk with him about such things. The catalogues of his works and long time devotion to photography have told me about the reason and support of his work.
The first time Yang Yankang held up his camera, he joined the realists, which shows that he does not bear the burden of the so-called “aestheticism”. To him, it may be more important to find a pure sense of vision. Therefore, Yang Yankang was interested in the grassroots from the very beginning. However, in my eyes, it was not until one day when he and some of his friends arrived at a village of Hansen’s Disease on the coast of Guangdong Province did he find the “true sense”. What he saw told him what existence is, what life is, and what perseverance is. Obviously, it was the power of reality instead of anything else that sharpened Yang’s lens and enabled his photos to have an exact correspondence with dignity.
What matters is that through Yang’s lens misfortune itself evolves to a terminal: faith. People establish their dignity with faith; otherwise it would be difficult to imagine that they can overcome the fragility of life. They were not defeated because they acquired, through faith, an eternal power that enabled them to abandon misery and reach peace. This power was seen by Yang Yankang in the poverty-struck Northwestern countryside who worked to tell people how stunned a person was by the reality he saw. Afterwards, he went even deeper into this stunning reality, and this time, he went to a remoter spiritual home, Tibet, where he continued to look for soul-experience, dignity, and faith.
There are countless people who go to Tibet to take photos. The fantastic nature and ethnic groups in Tibet may have made it a significant target for photographers all over the world, which means Tibet has become the origin of the “illusion pictures” generated by the world’s exotic spiritual band. The result is that the true Tibet disappeared; the ordinary life of real Tibetans, their misery, their happiness, and their dignity were misportrayed. The more attractive Tibet is, the further it goes from people’s sight. This is a strange case, and it was the fundamental reason for which Yang Yankang and people with the same firm faith were attracted. Yang wants to return a true Tibet, an unavoidable Tibet with iron-like dignity through his work.
This reminds me of the explanation for awarding Yang Yankang on the 1st “Shafei Photography Award” which was a wonderful summary of the whole meaning of Yang’s works and is also helpful for understanding them and their value behind.
I understand that we actually don’t need to say too much about Yang Yankang’s photos. I firmly believe that people can find from his pictures contents that are much more significant than words. Once they realize Yang’s transference between vision and faith, they, like me, will find many comments redundant. We really need not to say anything other than feeling it, because faith, and the visual experience generated from that faith, is beyond words. By then, everyone will agree that only the art works are the most accountable vehicle in which faith can shine.
Prologue is as above.
Dongguan, Guangdong
March 31, 2008
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