Secondhand Tang Poems: Gazing at Passing Traditions

Abstract

Maleonn is a prominent photographer and artist of contemporary Chinese photography. Many of his photographic works, particularly the Secondhand Tang Poems series, offer valuable perspectives on how traditional Chinese poetic culture is integrated into contemporary digital photography. By analyzing the inspirations, compositions and framing of Secondhand Tang Poems, the study strives to present the extension, distortion, and reinterpretation of traditional Chinese poetry by the photographer, and these practices have allowed poems in the history to travel across time, confronting sociocultural issues in contemporary Chinese society.

Keywords:

• Maleonn
• Secondhand Tang Poems
• Tang Dynasty poetry
• Chinese photography

Notes

Xiaoling Dai is a PGR at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds.