Kaifeng Market
This series of photos was taken in the winter of 2017 and developed in 2019. I had forgotten what this film had documented before it was developed, but when I received the photos, the memory of the Kaifeng Market hit me instantly. As Bruce Gilden said, "If you can smell the street by looking at the photo, it’s a street photograph."
Kaifeng is an ancient city in China, once the capital of eight dynasties, and she has been recording traces of China's ancient culture.
The market in Kaifeng is the prototype of Zhang Zeduan's painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival. Today, the Kaifeng Market spans thousands of years and still gives us a glimpse of the old city's former market atmosphere.
The Kaifeng Market was held once a month, with vendors occupying both sides of the street. On this day the market becomes Non-place (coined by Marc Augé), pulling citizens out of their regular lives and forging new connections with the same streets and the city. It is a place where everyone regains anonymity and experiences multiple lives.
