I've never seen Chen Gang, an outstanding young photographer in Miao nationality after 1980s. He touched me, attracted me and brought me closer to him. That's a photo he took, called Miao Village Morning Rhyme. The shooting location is very familiar-Miao Village, Bian Xi, Koudan Town, Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, Hunan Province. The wisps of smoke from the unique diaojiao building, the swimming steam floating on the river, the swaying steel wire bridge, and the scene of Miao sister carrying a basket and walking through the steel wire bridge in the morning fog. Chen Gang combines diverse landscapes and presents a vivid ink and wash landscape painting. With the smoke rising, Miao village began a new day of life; The trees in front of and behind that house presented us with a pure and beautiful original ecological paradise. Look! The water vapor transpiring on the water, four layers of green hills of love, bright water, bridges and people ... and the bridge is the bridge of villagers' hearts. Walking through it means walking through a mood, a past, and a happy and sweet time. ...
Chen Gang's life experience is quite rich. He told me on WeChat that he loved nature since he was a child and had an innate love for nature. He said that he spent most of his childhood in the countryside. He and his friends caught rabbits in the mountains, fished in the river, climbed caves, picked wild fruits and hid them in haystacks ... The rural scenery and simple folk customs left a deep impression on him, which also provided him with a creative source of photography. Appreciating Chen Gang's work "Snow in Miao Village" reminds me of the past when it snowed heavily in my hometown when I was a child, and the scene of skateboarding with bamboo in the snow. Chen Gang can shoot such a picture of Miao village snow rhyme, not only because of his diligence, but also because he is familiar with the scene of Miao village snow. Therefore, his creation has a life foundation and is grounded. In the black-and-white photos, Chen Gang not only shows the beautiful scenery in the snow in Miao village, but also expresses the struggling Miao children's yearning for their hometown. ...
Reading Chen Gang's homesickness pictures, I not only read the charm of diaojiao buildings scattered in the mountains, but also read the innocence and simplicity of Miao people's livelihood. Chen Gang's work "Miao Gui Xiang Yun" only shows a few wooden buildings hanging their feet under the sunshine and clouds, and a few Miao people carrying hoes to hang their feet, but the relationship between connotation and extension is multiple. Perhaps what people may read is a kind of thinking: in today's society, the whole people compete for the city. Why are there people farming in this remote Miao village? What are they looking at? Perhaps what people read may be a kind of comfort: this is the hometown of the soul, living in seclusion in the country, guarding a comfortable diaojiao building, or planting three or five acres of rice in the ridge of the shower head and raising a few local ducks; Or sit quietly, sipping tea and listening to the birds whispering. Perhaps what more people read is a yearning: simple Miao village, several acres of paddy fields, several border vegetable fields, several old wells and several old trees. That scene is the soul hometown that Qian Shan will return to after thousands of waters. ...
Old mother, red pepper, ginkgo tree, hat, dog. Chen Gang used freehand brushwork to photograph a left-behind Miao mother's day-and-night expectation for her child's return: the ginkgo garden is yellow, autumn is almost over, and winter is coming. Soon, my children working in the city should have set foot on the road to their hometown. I have to make dried red pepper into Chili powder quickly, so that my children can taste the long-lost hometown taste. The hat on the stone tells people that my mother has just come back from work and has no rest. The old mother was busy holding the basket of peppers for selection, and the dog was lying on the ground watching lazily ... Chen Gang told people in a quiet place that her mother missed her children and couldn't wait. Let people remember the old mothers who are still in their hometown, the figure of their children waiting at the entrance of the village, the scene of their eagerness to work for their children, and the hard work of finding the taste of childhood for their children regardless of the old, the weak and the sick ... After thinking about it, maybe everyone is blurred by tears like me. ...
Chen Gang's Miao Zhai Shan Yun tells the expectation of an old mother in the mountains for one year with simple pictures. In the lens, the pigsty has been thrown behind the old mother, and two dogs accompany the old mother who feeds the pigs all the way. When I was a child, it was a very common photo in Miao village. Now it is not an ordinary photo, but a fashionable word "homesickness". In this homesickness picture, it is revealed that only the elderly and children in Miao village are guarding this quiet land; In this homesickness picture, we can see the joy of the old mother looking forward to a family reunion to kill pigs for the New Year. This homesickness is a perspective of the primitive and simple Miao village; In this homesick picture, the leaves on the forest are red, and the bamboo color under the forest is green. I have drunk with Chen Xiang for thousands of times. Time has passed, and I have changed the stars, and finally I snuggled up with the same years. Give a person is that kind of tenderness. ...
Every picture of Chen Gang's homesickness tells an ordinary story that happened in Miao village, but it reflects the changes brought by social changes. Perhaps this is Chen Gang's original intention of understanding the Party's policies and being familiar with rural conditions. Chen Gang told me on WeChat that he basically visited all the villages and towns in Miao villages and towns, so his homesickness in the lens was so strong. One of the pictures, entitled "Miao Village Family Rhyme", makes people read not only the prosperity of the neighborhood, but also the friendship of unity and mutual assistance in Miao Village. I read that although the years have changed, the strong nostalgia, brothers and sisters, filial piety of parents, etc. are still passed on; The pictures not only convey the harmony of friendship, but also convey the' happy heart' that the mother told the distant children not to miss, so that the world can see the happy life scene of the elderly in Miao township. Nostalgia, maternal love and affection are all vividly shown in this painting. ...
In Wangwang's fire pit, pieces of local pork are hung, and men and women dressed in Miao costumes are surrounded by the fire pit, laughing and tasting the oil tea made by their mothers. This is the Miao Family Festival shown in Chen Gang's lens. I don't know which elder sister wants to get married or which elder brother wants to get a wife. I don't know which grandfather's birthday or which grandmother's birthday; I don't know which uncle is in his seventies or which aunt is in his seventies. The fire pond is booming, friends and relatives get together, bring parents and family together, talk about society, talk about village changes, sing Miao folk songs and celebrate a beautiful day with you and him. The fireplace is full of fire, the fire shines on the face, and the happy and beautiful times are all in the bowl full of joy. That song, that sentence, that fire, that cup, that person, fixed the beautiful sunshine and the festive day. Appreciating the people in the painting reminds people of the festive days in their hometown and gives people a sense of comfort without asking for directions or running back and forth. ...
Some people think that a year is a long time; Some people think that a year is too short. Walking through thousands of waters in Qian Shan has left many unforgettable memories in people's hearts. The time in Chen Gang's lens is also a time of homesickness. He not only recorded the vicissitudes of Miao village, but also recorded the scenes, scenes and clusters of Miao village's beautiful days. Miao Yun is just a masterpiece in Chen Gang's homesickness and festive works, but the stories told in the picture are varied. In Custom Nostalgia, he did not use hanging dragons to show the harvest and celebration of the Miao people in the past year, but used primitive grass dragons to show the celebration. This is his creativity and his success. Because he deeply understands the idea that photography works come from life and sublimate into life, he chooses the original ecological customs to embody it. The concise picture tells the happy story of Miao nationality and the ancient legend of Miao village today. It also reminds me of the lyrics of "The change of the story always ends with time, can the ending chapter write the initial heart", but I believe that Chen Gang will stick to his own path, and no matter how far he can go, he can shoot an eternal heart in his heart!
Chen Gang, a stranger in the world of mortals, you can stand the baptism of business, loneliness and poverty. You already have the good qualities of a photographer, and your road to photography creation will be wider and wider!