Greg Girard -
Shanghai
May 22 to June 28, 2008


Opening Reception:
Thursday, May 22, 2008 6-8 pm
Artist in attendance.

The Monte Clark Gallery Vancouver is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by photographer Greg Girard.

Distracted by the pace and scale of Shanghai’s phenomenal recent growth it is easy to overlook the reason so much of the city’s early 20th Century neighborhoods were preserved as long as they were: urban development for profit was suspended for more than four decades following Mao’s victory in 1949. Preserved by a kind of benign neglect, these period homes, buildings and neighborhoods are now being purposefully demolished to make way for Shanghai’s vision of itself as a modern “world” city. Today’s brief historical moment, as one Shanghai collapses into the other, is the last chance to witness the phenomenon of these two Shanghais occupying the same space.

Beginning in 1998, Girard’s extensive investigation into the accelerated metamorphosis of Shanghai looks at a historical city that will not withstand China’s drive for economical development. The images depict not only the passing of these neighborhoods, but also the disappearance of the residents themselves. The long exposures capture inhabitants as ghostly figures fading from their traditional lifestyles.

Shanghai View #4 (2002) depicts the clear division between Shanghai’s past and present, juxtaposing the old with the new. Rising up behind the mid-20th century structures are the sleek, angular forms of an ever-expanding metropolis. The subdued glow of old Shanghai contrasts strongly with the bright lights of the cityscape, alluding to the snuffing-out of what was, for modernity.

Girard was born and raised in Vancouver and has been living in Asia since 1983 where he has worked extensively as a photojournalist for magazines such as National Geographic, Time and Newsweek. He has lectured and exhibited internationally in Germany, the UK, Asia, and North America. Girard was recently the subject of the latest internationally successful monograph published in 2007 by The Magenta Foundation entitled “Phantom Shanghai.”

Exhibition Images