Faculty of Art

Photography

Boyu Jiang

Can you hear the people sing?

Four 16" x 20" silver gelatin prints in response to political issues and protests related to China's zero COVID policy in 2022.

“In November 2022, there were many protests against China’s zero covid policy, and many horrible things had happened in the past due to the policy. One of the most wide spread incident, which is also the cause of the wide spread White Paper Revolution, is a fire in Urumqi that caused 10 deaths on November 24, 2022. China’s strict enforcement of zero covid policy prevented residents from leaving the building, and also blocked the firefighters from entering the building, as the entrance of the building was blocked by local officials. In China, you have to be careful of what you say. Otherwise you could be put into jail for up to 15 days without a court sentence. In response of this heavy censorship, people in China started to use blank papers to protest. They are essentially saying, no matter how strict the censorship is, we have a way to deliver our voice. People would know what we mean, even by just holding white papers.​This piece is inspired by the incidents in China, the government's responses to the incidents, as well as the film Les Misérables. The 4 staged photographs are metaphors of the incidents as well as the responeses from the government and society.”