Passing by Beijing

256 × 213 mm
172 pages
2024

Photographed, edited and published by the artist, Passing by Beijing is a chronicle of Cai Dongdong’s life in Beijing between 2002 and 2022.

During this period, Dongdong, who moved to Beijing from Northwest China, witnessed the rapid expansion of China’s domestic economy following the country’s entry into the WTO in 2001, the surge of the local art scene driven by Western galleries and collectors, and its gradual decline. His photographs are personal, documenting scenes, landscapes, friends and strangers. Rather than offering a systematic account of Beijing’s transformation, the series captures fragments and observations from within the flow of everyday life, balancing a sense of nostalgia with a quietly attentive, hopeful tone.

“Each press of the shutter seems to be driven by fate. Unalterable, undeletable — until the photo is developed, the process is full of serendipity, as well as our expectation of the final result. There was no specific theme for my shooting; most of the time the camera was like a toy to me. When I came across an interesting scene, I would subconsciously take it out to record it. Sometimes, out of boredom, I photographed my own shadow, a gust of wind, a party, the scenery flashing past a bus window, or a flower in bloom.”
— from Cai Dongdong’s afterword