Polaroids from the Middle Kingdom

Old and New World Visions of China

Lukas Birk author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Glitterati Inc

Published:16th Feb '14

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Polaroids from the Middle Kingdom cover

Represents a true photographic pioneer; Birk's medium is inventive and predates the contrived nostalgia of contemporary apps and filters. This innovative collection of images is a standout in the travel photography genre Upon relocating to Beijing, photographer Lukas Birk attempts to escape the sense of stagnation that plagued him in his central European home. He encounters a group of like-minded young creatives who share his sentiment of "nostalgia teetering on the edge of melancholy." Hoping to express that feeling, Birk discovers his father's collection of expired Polaroid film. With Birk's medium acting as a metaphor for the transformation of modern China - its rapid development and the void of nostalgia left behind - this book presents a sense of something from the past interrupted by modern motives, a collision of old and new world visions. In her insightful foreword, art advisor Katherine Don details Birk's contribution to contemporary art in China and comments on his pioneering innovation. Birk's stunning collection of inventive imagery captures the vibrancy of contemporary life, inspired by the filter of his own nostalgia and longing.


The images all...reflect a sense of nostalgia in a rapidly changing country that is undergoing mind-numbing social and economic transformation. -- Reza Akhlaghi * Foreign Policy Association, April 12, 2014 *

ISBN: 9780988174566

Dimensions: 381mm x 310mm x 20mm

Weight: 1882g

128 pages