The Chinese Connection by Kinga Pawlukiewicz
Photos taken in different parts of China, mainly in Chongqing, Fuling, Beijing and Shanghai
My name is Kinga Pawlukiewicz, I’m originally from Poland but dwelling in the States.
A little back story of what you’re looking at:
I studied Chinese at university and spent my second year of studies in China. When I moved there, I was taking photos of… well, basically everything – I guess that’s what you do when you’re overwhelmed (in a positive sense) by a brand new country, extremely different from what you’ve experienced before.
I couldn’t find any photo lab developing 35mm films for almost half year, so was afraid that waiting another few months would damage my photos. But shortly after, tatadadam, a friend of a friend of a friend (these Chinese connections…) got in touch with an old man, who used to be a photographer himself, and still had equipment to process film. I’ve neither seen the man nor his equipment, but I appreciate what he did a lot.
The photos look like they were taken over 30 years ago; quite gnarly, even murky, some of them seem rather sad – which is nothing like I have experienced myself while living there. I still don’t know whether it was my camera, his way of processing films or China itself but I like the outcome and that’s why decided to share it all with you.
