A city that reads like a poem.
Shanghai is not a city for the feint of heart. It takes your guts and liquifies them in an instant if you are not ready for the vertigo it deals with at every moment of day, at evert moment of their bright LED nights.
The markets are full of life, sprinkled with death, the heights are maddening, as so are the depths. Nothing makes sense, no matter where you look and still, there is an equilibrium, a balance to the DNA of it all, a code you are not meant to understand when you first set foot there. It's the heartbeat of the city, the hum of what rules the streets under the surface. This poem understands this very well and does justice to that port that stands tall above the clouds.
That’s what drove me to collaborate with Patrick Schiefen to make this visual piece of his poem Streetwise. This was my vision of what his words inspired in me. We managed to do it all with a couple of days of walking around the city, camera in hand, just before he moved out for good from China, a last minute project that felt perfect for his departure, a real homage to the streets that formed us both as Artists.
Stills
