Rowland’s photographs do not attempt a comprehensive record of the building work. He steps back from the process of structural transformation in search of what the building might reveal or suggest as it is systematically taken apart and then remade.

Over the course of the last twenty years the Chinese economy has developed at an extraordinary rate, becoming open to and increasingly intertwined with the West. However, the current social conditions that this process has led to are often not made easily visible. The depiction of China in the lineage of art documentary photography throughout the twentieth century has significant discontinuities due to conflict, revolution and international diplomatic relations that might be described as difficult.

Urban Fictions by Richard Rowland, Shanghai

From Here: The Brighton Photo Fringe Open '09