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hat can photography bring to our understanding of labour in WChina? This question needs to be addressed taking into account the role and possibilities of photography more generally, its development over time, and the history and special conditions of . After 1949, political control over image production in China created a visual hegemony that glorified socialism and class struggle, while rendering social problems, inequalities, and injustices invisible. However, like in so many other fields, the reform period has enabled a growing and diverse group of people to challenge earlier prescribed visual aesthetics and ideological control. Photographers today experiment with new ways of documenting Chinese society, and also address hitherto invisible issues as well as new problems. Economic and social reforms have created new types of workers, for instance migrant workers, more precarious Portrait of miner Yang labour conditions, for example in factories in Guanlan in Shandong, the South and in private mines, and new forms by Song Chao. of marginalisation and exploitation, such as illegal work within the sex industry. Visualising These socioeconomic developments have drawn the attention of domestic and foreign Labour and photographers alike, such as Edward Burtynsky, working on Chinese topics like the steel and Labourscapes coal industries, manufacturing, shipyards, recycling, and the Three Gorges Dam, and in China Sim Chi Yin, working on issues such as gold From Propaganda to Socially miners and migrant workers (Estrin 2015). Engaged Photography Digital photography, the Internet, social media platforms, and the expansion of smartphones, not only have provided professional Marina SVENSSON photographers with new possibilities, but they also have enabled ordinary Chinese citizens and workers to document their lives and Photography has always been a powerful circulate these images online. Today a wide tool to depict the lives of workers in China. range of photography tackling social problems Whereas during the Mao period political and labour conditions can be seen on the control over image production created a visual Internet, in art spaces, as well as on social media hegemony that glorified socialism and class platforms. If, as the filmmaker Wim Wenders struggle, more recent digital developments (quoted in Levi Strauss 2003, 1) argues, ‘the have enabled ordinary Chinese citizens and most political decision you make is where you workers to document their lives and circulate direct people’s eyes,’ China indeed has gone these images online. through a visual revolution challenging the

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political gaze and visual hegemony. This being the Farm Security Administration to document said, however, the Chinese Communist Party the causes and consequences of agricultural (CCP) still maintains a strong interest in—and intensification and exploitative factory the means to—control and censor both the farming. A more recent example is Sebastiâo written word and images. Salgado, who started out as an economist but In such a context, this essay discusses how in the late 1970s decided to devote himself to photography can serve a twofold purpose, as photography in the belief that it could be more both a valuable historical record that helps powerful than pure academic work. While us understand how ideology and politics have Salgado has been criticised for aestheticising shaped images of labour and the working suffering, he has also been widely defended class in China, and as an important affective and praised, and in 2010 he was awarded the and intellectual tool to analyse current labour American Sociological Association Award for issues. Excellence in the Reporting of Social Issues. Salgado maintains a strong belief in the power of photography to give rise to debate and Photography, Social action: ‘What I want is the world to remember the problems and the people I photograph. Engagement, and Calls What I want is to create a discussion about for Change what is happening around the world and to provoke some debate with these pictures (Salgado 1994).’ In the West, photography has long been However, the increasing accessibility regarded as a tool to create awareness of of photographs has created its own set of social problems, injustices, inequalities, and challenges. Already in 1974, W. Eugene Smith— the life and struggles of marginalised groups who, among other things, is famous for his of people (Bogre 2012; Franklin 2016; Levi photographs of the victims of the Minamata Strauss 2003). Since the late-nineteenth mercury scandal in Japan—expressed century, documentary photography and awareness of how the sheer number of photojournalism have addressed topics photographs can numb people, although he such as slum housing, landlessness, child ultimately held the view that photography can labour, poor working conditions, poverty, and be an important tool for critical thinking. In his migration. Socially engaged photographers and words: ‘Photography is a small voice at best. photojournalists have on their own accord or Daily, we are deluged with photography at its in collaboration with scholars and civil society worst, until its drone of superficiality threatens actors—including news media, photo agencies, to numb our sensitivity to all images. Then and NGOs—documented and uncovered social why photograph? Because sometimes—just and political problems with the aim to create sometimes—photographs can lure our senses awareness and support for social and political into greater awareness. Much depends on the change. viewer; but to some, photographs can demand In the field of documentary photography enough of emotions to be a catalyst to thinking’ on labour issues, one of the earliest and most (quoted in Franklin 2016, 201). This emotional well-known photographers is Lewis W. Hine, or affective quality of photography is also the who in 1908 was commissioned by the United reason why so many NGOs and activists today States National Child Labor Committee to make use of photography in their work. document child labour in the country. Another As a result of the digital revolution, we are example is Dorothea Lange, who during the today surrounded by ever more images that American depression in the 1930s, together compete for our attention, and thus visibility with the economist Paul Taylor, worked for remains a question of politics and power

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relations. Susan Sontag (2003) has argued that Migrant workers taking a rest in a factory in the proliferation of images of violence and Dongguan, by Zhan Youbing. pain can result in ‘compassion fatigue’ that undermines our abilities to feel, connect, and act. Images may thus hinder, rather than foster, The proper role of photography from the action and solidarity, creating a distance that perspective of the CCP was laid down in prevents connectivity and civic engagement. different speeches and directives, which Other scholars and photographers have came to inform Chinese photojournalism in challenged her conclusion, however, and believe the three decades that preceded the reforms. that photography can still play an important Photographers were called upon to show role in awareness raising, civic engagement, the progress and success of communism and humanitarian and political activism (Bogre by documenting technical advances, new 2012; Franklin 2016; Levi Strauss 2003). One factories, and large infrastructural projects. needs to distinguish between images that play It was not possible to take and publish on people’s sense of guilt and give rise to pity, photographs that hinted at social problems, charity, and good-will, and images that provoke hardships, or resentments, as this would have outrage and call for more radical social and been seen as a critique of the political system. political changes. Moreover, one also needs For this reason, photographs of the Great to distinguish between images that portray Famine of the early 1960s do not exist, but people as victims and images that portray them there are ample photographs celebrating the with dignity and agency. Great Leap Forward and its advances in steel production. In the photographs of the 1950s and 1960s, workers are depicted as heroic and From Visual Hegemony strong, toiling to build the New Socialist China with commitment and revolutionary fervour. to New Visualities They are physically sturdy, well-dressed and clean-faced, and engage in difficult work The CCP understood early on that without flinching. The photographs portray photography can be useful in ideological the strength and collective spirit of the working work and serve as a propaganda tool (see, class without hinting at any difficulties or poor for instance, Roberts 2013 and Wu 2017). working conditions.

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Private mine in province in the 1990s, by Zhang Xinmin (who was among the first to Niu Guozheng. document migrant workers in Guangdong in the early 1990s), Nie Guozheng (who has documented the life of miners), and Lu Guang With the end of the Cultural Revolution (famous for his work on the Henan HIV crisis and the death of in 1976, the role and environmental pollution) have addressed and content of photography began to change. topics and groups of people that previously Photojournalists were inspired by the shifting received scant attention. Many NGOs—Project ideological and cultural landscape, and began Hope working on rural education was one of the to experiment with new aesthetics, resulting first—also began to make use of photography in the appearance of a new humanitarian to draw attention to their work. The digital realism in photojournalism. At the same time, revolution, including the Internet, social media new artistic uses of photography—inspired platforms, and smartphones, has enabled more in part by the influx of the works of Western people to document their lives and personal photographers—appeared, while family memories. On social media, especially Sina photography became less political and more Weibo, Chinese citizens have been exposed to individualistic in character. Furthermore, images of groups of people and issues that the the increasing affordability of cameras led traditional media are often still silent about, to the emergence of a new generation of such as the struggle and plight of petitioners, photographers, artists, and enthusiastic trafficked children, and villagers who have lost amateurs. their land (Svensson 2016). Since the late 1990s, we have seen a growing Although initially reluctant to take to Weibo, number of socially engaged photographers workers, activists, and labour NGOs now who address societal changes and problems, use the platform to share photographs about as well as photographers who embark on more their activities, including protests and strikes. personal and artistic explorations. Special Labour NGOs have also encouraged and trained photo journals, art spaces, and photo festivals, workers to document their life and work, have given photographers new platforms to and have organised a variety of exhibitions showcase their work (Chen 2018). Socially (Sun 2014). The Love Save Pneumoconiosis engaged photographers, such as Lü Nan Foundation, an organisation that opened (known for his work on mental patients), its Weibo account in 2011, has actively used

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photos and videos of migrant workers suffering photographs from China Pictorial and other from the deadly work-related lung disease. news sources provide rich information about Some migrant workers afflicted by this illness the view and role of the working class during have also begun to use social media to circulate the Mao era but often less information about information and images of themselves and actual working conditions. The range of their lives. These photos and videos show the photographs illustrate both the changes in workers’ weak and emaciated bodies and reveal visual representation of miners as well as their the seriousness of their condition, arousing changing working conditions. empathy and support. Nonetheless, it is beyond One representative photograph from 1969 doubt that most workers use their smartphones shows a group of miners, including a few women, more for fun than as a tool to raise awareness standing and sitting on the underground track about labour issues (Wallis 2013; Wang 2016). leading into a mine. They are not working, At the same time, a more activist type of however, but busy reading Mao’s Little Red photography—which could be described as Book and holding a large portrait of him. The inverse surveillance or ‘sousveillance’—has photograph is clearly staged to showcase how developed thanks to new digital technologies studying Mao is helping and inspiring the and platforms. Although the digital revolution miners in their work. The miners are well- has brought about new forms of visualities and dressed and clean-faced, and the photograph enabled more people to make and circulate provides no indication of hardship. Instead, it their own photographs, the Chinese state can provides a reminder of how in the Maoist era still control and prevent the circulation of ideology permeated all workplaces, and how unwanted content. This is happening at the miners were both celebrated and disciplined same time as the sheer quantity of information at a time when work was considered ‘glorious’. available is making it difficult for these images This and other historical photographs to be seen and actually have an impact. provide an interesting contrast to the more contemporary photographs in the exhibition. The weakening of the grip of ideology over Reading Labour photography has led to new aesthetics and ways of documenting the life and work of Issues in and through miners. At the same time, the reform period has Photography also led to the emergence of private mines and, in many cases, worsening working conditions. The workforce today includes migrant workers How can we read photography in the context with less skills and lower social status than of Chinese labour? In 2008, Susan Meiselas their predecessors or their counterparts in and Orville Schell brought together the work state mines. Socially engaged photographers of 18 Chinese photographers in the exhibition capture these changes in the nature and status Mined in China which was first shown in the of the work. For instance, Niu Guozheng’s United States and later also in China. In 2011, photographs in Henan and Geng Yunsheng’s a new expanded exhibition called Coal+Ice was photographs in Yunnan since the 1990s both first shown in the Three Shadows Art Centre reveal the precarious situation of those miners in before travelling to other places in who struggle to make a living in a dangerous China and the United States. Both exhibitions line of work. Their photographs show bare- were sponsored by the Asia Institute in New chested miners covered in soot engaging in York. These exhibitions included historical taxing manual labour, carrying buckets of coal photographs from China Pictorial (Renmin in small, private mines that one may assume huabao) as well as contemporary photography are not very safe. from the 1990s and 2000s. Historical

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One early striking photograph by Niu mining industry. Nonetheless, the photographs Guozheng—included in the celebrated 2003 work more affectively than mere text and exhibition Humanism in China—shows a facilitate both awareness and engagement. teenage boy covered in soot on a heap of coal and rocks. He stands with a cheeky and self- confident smile, basket on his arm, dressed Building Empathy only in a pair of shorts and sandals. Slightly ajar on his head, adding to the sense of casualty through Photography and humour, sits a helmet that is more for show than for safety. The image works on a number Academic work and statistics often fail to of levels. On the one hand, it raises questions capture the lived and embodied experiences of of working conditions, safety, and underage labour in different times, conditions, and places. miners; but at the same time it reveals the boy’s In the best of circumstances, photography can pride and resourcefulness, and acknowledges provide a deeper, more empathic understanding his agency. that fosters respect and solidarity. It can also Showing the more negative and dangerous serve as a catalyst for critical thinking and aspects of mining, Zhang Jie has taken photos theoretical reflection. Through photography of families holding photos of family members researchers and students of labour can get who have died in the mines. Wang Mianli’s closer to subjects, sites, and topics that might photographs, in contrast, portray technically- otherwise be closed and out of reach to them. advanced mines—seemingly mostly state- Photography, however, may also hide or fail owned—where luckier miners work. These to explain larger institutional and structural photographs privilege the physical settings contexts and issues. For this reason, one needs and the machinery rather than the people to have the necessary background information working there, and through their composition in order to critically read and analyse visual and colouring give a somewhat techno- representations of labour. When looking at optimistic image of the mining industry. photographic records, we need to ask ourselves Another photographer, Song Chao, worked as some critical questions: what are the limitations a miner himself before taking up photography. of photography? What is invisible or has been His portraits of miners in black and white turn left out? What photographs are missing? Are our attention from the mining industry to the workers depicted as victims or as agents of individual miners themselves. Although the change? Who is taking these photographs and men are dark and dirty from the soot, their why, and does it matter? Only if we reflect on individual character, pride, and strength stand these questions, will we be able to critically out, and the photos end up highlighting their understand the power of photography for agency. engagement and solidarity. ■ These photographs remind us that the mining industry is highly diverse, with quite The Mined in China exhibition can be seen at: different working conditions and classes of www.minedinchina.com/. workers. More importantly, the different styles of the photographers included in the exhibition show how Chinese photography today has diversified and become more individualistic in character. The exhibition obviously can be read and probed in many respects, and it indeed gives rise to a number of questions, some of which can only be answered by turning to academic works and media reports on the

MADE IN CHINA YEARBOOK 2018 137 This text is taken from Dog Days: A Year of Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, Made in China Yearbook 2018, edited by Ivan Franceschini and Nicholas Loubere, published 2019 by ANU Press, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

doi.org/10.22459/MIC.04.2019.20