TEXT & PHOTOS BY ELOI SCARVA / TRANSLATION DAISY WONG
As part of the 14th Macau Literary Festival, the Tap Seac Gallery hosted the photography exhibition The Wind Blows on the Prairie, by Chinese photographer Wang Zhengping. This exhibition was not only limited to the visual aesthetics of Inner Mongolia’s horses, but was also set in an important ethnographic context, where the culture and traditions of the region are eternalised through his lens. The collection of images transported visitors to a world where reality and fantasy intertwined through photographic art.
Wang Zhengping, a photographer and ethnographer, is acclaimed as one of the leading exponents of artistic photography in China’s contemporary era. Since 2015, he has received international recognition, being considered one of the top ten pioneers of Asian photography in Pixel magazine’s rankings. His work, which includes award-winning photographic series and publications, reflects a deep connection with the horses that inhabit the vast landscape of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a region that has shaped his life and his art.
Wang’s approach to magical realism is particularly remarkable. The elements he captures, from the majestic elegance of the horses to the vast horizons of the grasslands, are not just visual representations, but reveal stories and feelings that capture the essence of life in Mongolia.
“Wang Zhengping’s project on the horses of northern Mongolia is very close to perfection and at times seems to transport us to the world of enchantment and magical realism”, comments João Miguel Barros, the exhibition’s curator.
This ability to transform everyday life into something extraordinary, is testimony to Wang’s mastery as a photographer and storyteller, the curator adds.
Magical realism is a literary, artistic and pictorial current that transforms everyday life into poetry and where the lines between the banal and the extraordinary are irresistibly blurred. Originating in Latin America, this approach defies logic and celebrates local traditions, giving voice to stories that dance between the real and the fantastic. Artists such as Gabriel García Márquez and Adolfo Bioy Casares are examples of these narratives that reveal a world where the marvellous is part of everyday life. Wang Zhengping introduces this fantastic realism into the unique framework of his visual work.
The exhibition was not limited to the aesthetic beauty of the horses, but also delved into an ethnographic dimension, where Wang acts as an archivist of human experiences. By recording the people, places and traditions of the territory, the artist promotes a richer and more complex understanding of the lives that inhabit Inner Mongolia.
“In this other dimension, Wang Zhengping becomes a storyteller and a defender of cultural diversity”, stresses João Miguel Barros, thus highlighting the photographer’s relevance not only as an artist, but also as a humanist who uses his camera to document the human experience.
