China’s Great Leap

China has been in the news lately for everything from exporting toys covered with lead-based paint to its efforts to reduce pollution in Beijing prior to the 2008 Olympics. The subtext of many of these stories is China’s headlong leap into industrialization and the consequences thereof. Two current shows—Three Gorges at the Minnesota Center for Photography and Documenting China at the Weisman Art Museum—document some of China’s leaps forward.

Three Gorges takes the narrow view, focusing our eye on the massive reconfiguration of China’s Three Gorges area as it transitioned from a landscape of earth to one of water. The largest hydroelectric dam in the world was built in this spot along the Yangtze river, dislocating more than 1 million rural Chinese people, exerting tremendous pressures on the environment, and, in general, typifying what photographer Jeffrey Austin calls the “march of modern history.”

The show features work from twenty-two photographers from Asia, Europe, and North America. “I wanted to represent both insider and outsider perspectives,” explains curator George Slade. “Include enough photographers, both China-based and not, to reflect at least two critical axes of coverage and insight.”

Where Three Gorges compresses social and environmental change into one moment on the epic scale of Chinese history, Documenting China: Contemporary Photography and Social Change takes a slightly longer view, starting with the waning days of the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s and ending with the beginning of the new millennia. A Smithsonian touring show curated by Chinese scholar Gu Zheng, Documenting China features the work of seven contemporary Chinese photographers offering an uncensored look at a key turning point in China’s evolution.

“What the West did in a matter of centuries, they’ve done in decades,” says curator Diane Mullin. The images in the show reflect those decades in the form of candid documentary photos of landscapes, architecture, portraits, and street scenes. Says Mullin, “We’re seeing a very important moment.” Three Gorges: Opens Nov. 17. Minnesota Center for Photography, 165 13th Ave. NE, Mpls., 612-824-5500; Documenting China: Contemporary Photography and Social Change: Through Nov. 25. Weisman Art Museum, 333 East River Rd., Mpls., 612-625-9494