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Qiu Min

"In the brief moments we have lived, both before and after are filled with the darkness of being." This thought by the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa came to mind as I viewed Jiawei Gong's work.

In Jiawei Gong’s pieces, the only human presence is the gaze from behind the camera lens. His landscapes often depict empty lands, factories, buildings, and scenes devoid of people. In these images, time is abstract; it is impossible to tell whether it is day or night, and there is no sense of air movement, wind, or real-world sounds. Each scene carries a vacuum-like quality, as if it exists in an isolated world. Some places may show the trembling shadows of sunlit trees, yet there is no warmth, only an intense tranquility. Gong, like a lantern bearer, wanders through dark terrains, guiding viewers to find the faint glimmers of light deep within time. Following his light, we see buildings and landscapes standing silently and solidly, the black and white tones enhancing the texture of objects. Unlike works that use the lens to narrate or converse, Gong’s images are a quiet gesture, inviting you to join him in a meditative, immersive mental state.

The "East Country" series captures Hangzhou and Zhuhai, while the "West Land" series focuses on Texas. Although these subjects have geographic distinctions, Gong is less concerned with presenting the differences in landscapes between nations and more interested in exploring the semantic richness of the images through dual perspectives. The imaging effect he achieves is also intriguing. Using immersive photography and post-processing, he creates a curvilinear perspective. When we gaze at these photographs, it’s as if a crystal ball were placed before our eyes, bending everything into a continuous loop on the retina, eventually causing a sensation of disorientation. Both buildings and natural landscapes seem on the verge of floating away like inflated balloons. Gong’s work subtly carries surrealist elements, reminiscent of the artist Giorgio de Chirico, whose depictions of time and space evoke a sense of mystery and unease. However, in Gong's work, there is a calm acceptance of solitude and desolation.

Immersive photography presents a 360-degree view, seemingly striving to lay out all details and truths without reserve. Yet, the results show that this attempt to restore reality is ineffective. Human vision, with a typical range of about 60 degrees, can extend to 180 degrees with head movement. This physical limitation has led us to develop a fixed visual logic. Once we try to break this logic, our trust in the world’s reality shifts. For example, in the virtual world of the metaverse by Mark Zuckerberg, using VR headsets to wander without turning your head achieves a 360-degree panoramic view. Despite the immersive simulation, it remains akin to a game environment because our perception of reality relies on all five senses. The visual information alone quickly leads to aesthetic fatigue; only experiences that transcend retinal stimuli provide a deeper, spiritual satisfaction.

So, does Jiawei Gong’s immersive photography reflect a fascination with technical manipulation, or is there a deeper ideal at play?

To answer this, we must understand that our vision is conditioned, linked to memory, which is often the result of ideological choices involving avoidance, deletion, addition, and reassembly into cultural memory. Today, digital technology freely manipulates images, capturing them no longer relies solely on optical principles or darkroom techniques. As filmmaker Wim Wenders notes: "Every single pixel, the smallest image unit, the image ‘atom’ can be changed. Since there is no longer any ‘original’, there is no longer any evidence of ‘facts.’ In the end, digital electronic images will deepen the distinction between ‘reality’ and ‘reality-borrowed’ in unprecedented ways, perhaps making this distinction unbridgeable." Therefore, any detail captured in Gong’s images, when presented in all directions, creates a surreal dream-like atmosphere. Returning to the essence of photography, what you see may not necessarily be true. Photography can be highly deceptive, and this “false truth” offers the potential for inserting concepts and ideas into the medium. For Jiawei Gong, the importance of his work lies not in portraying reality or retinal responses but in the process of seeing and what is being seen.

With today’s technological advancements, everyone has a camera in the pocket, and we live in an age inundated with images. While many people participate in photography and share on social media, most stop after pressing the shutter. In contemporary photography, however, post-processing, such as editing, output, and display, are crucial components. Ansel Adams said that the negative was the equivalent of the composer’s score, and the print the performance. He developed a set of darkroom standards for future generations to learn and refer to during the film era. In the digital age, post-processing after pressing the shutter is the second creative process; without this step, much of the artist’s ideas cannot be fully presented in the work. If for Cartier-Bresson, the preparation and waiting for the “decisive moment” were crucial, and pressing the shutter marked the completion of the work; in today’s photography, for most creators, pressing the shutter is just the beginning; both the initial shooting and the subsequent post-processing are equally important. Additionally, the output step is often overlooked. Most people view artworks, especially photographs, on screens, which differs significantly from the experience of the original. The size and texture of the original can greatly influence the viewing result. Once a photograph is printed, all flaws and details are exposed. Although everyone participates in photography today, few truly complete the full process.

In this sense, Jiawei Gong’s photography exhibitions carry a self-examination element. Photography is not merely about documenting different countries, serendipitous discoveries, or life’s journey. Gong aims to transform images into independent visual existences, exploring a technical shift in traditional imaging methods and visually interpreting the concept of images.

Qiu Min, Ph.D. in Arts from Tsinghua University, research focus: contemporary visual art theory and criticism.