Negative: Scans

The Evidentiary Power of the Negative. Xu Yong (b. China, 1954; lives and works in Beijing, China) makes artthat scrutinizes the photographic medium and its documentaryvariants and interpretations. An autodidact with a background inadvertising, the artist is fascinated by the influence that images haveon our collective memories. In 1989, a 35-year-old Yong joined theprotesters on Tiananmen Square and used his camera to record theevents on celluloid. The publication Negative Scan is the secondseries he presents in the form of unprocessed film. As in the earlierNegatives series, released in 2014, Yong uncovers a censored history,testing the hypothesis that the photographic negative?a preliminary stage on the way to the photograph properlyspeaking?provides more cogent evidence than analog or digitalphotography. This focus makes his compilation of documentarypictures an analytical study in the power of images and their ability toshed light on cultural taboos and historical amnesia. With essays byGérard A. Goodrow and Shu Yang.