Beijing Besieged by Waste - Guanniufang village, Xiaotangshan township, Changping district, 40°09′06″N 116°22′14″E
Wang Jiuliang
王久良
Production date
2009
Object Detail
Media
digital inkjet print
Measurements
110 x 220 cm
Notes
China’s ban on the importation of foreign waste (including Australia’s) has prompted a long overdue re-think of how wealthy nations export their garbage to the developing world. The recent commitment to the environment shown by the Chinese government may in part be due to the work of pioneering film-maker and photographer Wang Jiuliang. In 2008 Wang returned to his hometown and was horrified to find a devasted, polluted landscape. He began to document the landfill dumps that ring Beijing. Over the course of 3 years he rode 9300 kilometres on his motor bike, visiting 450 unregulated garbage dump sites to take more than 10,000 photographs. China’s economic miracle has come at a great cost; with increasing wealth has come mountains of garbage that finds its way into rivers and lakes. Wang photographed livestock grazing on the rubbish, much of it toxic, and scavengers gleaning whatever they can. He began to think that the shiny new Beijing suburbs of apartment complexes and tidy streets are just an illusion, and the garbage dumps the reality behind the façade. Wang said: ‘I spent my childhood summers catching locusts and fish. Now where are they? Are there still tadpoles and frogs in the creek? No.’
Accession number
2010.053