The Naming of a River

Xinhao Cheng
The Naming of a River

Photographs: Xinhao Cheng

Publisher: Jiazazhi Press

128 pages

Year: 2016

Comments: Hardcover, 25 x 16 cm. First edition copy of 500. In perfect condition. out of print!

In the beginning of 2014, the photographer went back to his hometown Kunming and found a "Pictures of Six Rivers in Yunnan's Provincial Capital" drawn by Huang Shijie, an official in Qing Dynasty. Inspired by the book he started to take sampling photos for Panlong River and tried to identify it again with old memories. At the same time he was researching the relationship between time and space beyond the river.

The book was made as a long gatefold in two sides. In the front side scattered perspectives of riverside sceneries, showing every section of the river originally, while in the back side there are picture related to the river in different times: humans met in a time in a place, rocks showing huge changes in millions of years, or eucalyptus leaves renewing every year. The two-side design shows the artist's practice of seeking for relations between external scenery and inner logic behind it. In the end of the book, a picture of sedimentary rocks gives a imagery expression for the issue the artist was discussing: time must be characterized in a space, and space must be shaped in a time. Their intertwining relationship will not be changed forever.