Speaking to Yan Wang Preston provided another space for me to pivot into. One that was unfamiliar to me as Yan’s work focuses on the landscape of China and its multifaceted identity that is usually seen in a very binary context when thinking about how China is presented in the mainstream media. Dr. Yan Wang Preston moved to the UK from China in 2005 after completing her training in Clinical Medicine at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Upon moving to the UK, Yan took up photography and in 2018 she completed her practice-based Ph.D. at the University of Plymouth under the supervision of Liz Wells and Jem Southam.
I was very intrigued by Yan’s methodical and precise style, her landscape photographs were not just aesthetic but move the landscape away from being an objective space to a subjective ream for me to consider it as a place beyond and separate from myself. After asking my first question, Yan asked or more so posed) questions to me from a poem, ‘Who are we, we are nature’?
This question was not completely removed from what Season Butler said to me about thinking beyond nature being the physical context of ‘naturalistic’ and trying to encompass everything as a form of nature. Yan’s question was to provoke me to think about my physicality and body in relation to nature. Beyond my behavior in the context of climate change, I try to be responsible as much as I can, but do I see myself as something that is natural?
Yan’s practice and outlook are informed by Chines philosophy, that we as humans are part of the world and that there are multiple microworlds that are visible and invisible to us but we are all connected. This thinking goes against a capitalist mindset, for me as it means that nature is not seen as an object to exploit and subjugate for our own uses.
From researching her series Mother River, I noted that she had added maps and GPS altitudes, in an attempt for others to go and experience the landscape for themselves and in my opinion to ensure that the landscape is not just seen as an objective space devoid of history and nuance. On reflection, I did ask Yan about community and the about other things but I think the most profound thing that I resonate with me with my own research is her philosophy and outlook towards her work.
The slowness of the analog process that she is being considerate and her academic background means that the level of research means that she is engaged in finding answers to existing problems and finding ways to provide an alternative or a way for us the think about our agency and the hierarchical structures that means that we have a limited viewpoint of nature.
Photos from inside a tree leaves in Brockwell Park, shot using Ilford HP5 Plus 400 film and developed at home using chemicals
Realising this means that I must again be more conscious of my own gaze and the limitations I have been placing on myself and my practice, I am aware of my body in these spaces but I am not really present, distracted mostly by having my camera with me, this tool creates another lens to see the world in without me considering what it is I am looking for?
The two photos featured in my blog are spaces that I go to often, the repeated steps that I take are familiar and ensure that I feel safe and I have never thought about mapping out my steps or sharing the walks that I take so that they could perhaps become a point of conversation. I was also thinking that this would be a way for me to find that connection to the space beyond the objective perspective I have been taking so far.
I need to be conscious of what I am doing, recently I feel I have been wondering in a daze and I feel a bit stuck and unable to articulate what I want to achieve, perhaps I have moved too far away from the initial remit of what I had proposed but perhaps this diversion will create more clarity for me. I am quite focused on the process at the moment but I am aware that at the end of this I would like to have some sort of an idea of what the ‘product’ could be.
My gaze has not shifted yet and I was glad that this interview acted as a type of intervention to my own philosophy and provided me with another nuanced perspective that I need to think about. I will be taking a break from shooting, and will probably pick it up in a few months once I have consolidated my thoughts a bit more.
Photos from inside a tree leaves in Brockwell Park, shot using Ilford HP5 Plus 400 film and developed at home using chemicals