About This Project

MING 000

I started this project, a series of books currently entitled MING 001-004, in January 2002. They are a record of the places I have visited and observed during this period, photographed in a way articulating to the observer what these places have signified for me and the contradictions observed while transiting them.

Through MING 001 to MING 004, the photographs are subjective, introducing my personal thoughts and feelings in reaction to these places. There is a continuity observed throughout the series in terms of the visual language used and symbolism installed via shooting strategy and editing. Images are given equal importance printed to the same dimensions, independent while constituting a cohesive whole – decipherable individually or in relation to the image with which they are paired or as part of one wider narrative. The editing is sequential and chronological mirroring the journey.

In these four books, you are given an impression of how cultures relate to me as an outsider and the relationships I try and make with these places. These places are like a blank canvas, I can photograph without any notion of what things mean in any sense, apart from what they mean to me.

The covers of the books do not communicate content. They have a title, eg MING 001, which in itself suggests nothing other than my own personal interpretation. These books will continue for as long as I photograph. The books will illustrate different approaches as they continue, some strictly focused, others more discursive. All record my perceptions.