Friday, July 31, 2009

Ryan Pyle Blog: Gallery Exhibition "Chinese Turkistan"


Hello,

I just wanted to let you know that preparations for my solo gallery show, which will open on Thursday August 6th, are nearly finished.

The show will be held at the newly renovated Dylan Ellis Gallery (DEG): (http://www.elevatordigital.ca/deg/)

Dylan Ellis Gallery
42 Industrial Street,
Toronto, ON M4G 1Y9
Hours: M-f 9am to 5pm;
Sat. noon - 5pm, Sun. by Appointment
416.406.3131

The opening time on Thursday night is 630pm, that's when I'll hold a Q&A and that will be followed by a reception from 7pm to 9pm. I'll also be at the gallery after the show on Friday August 7th and Saturday August 8th in case anyone would like to stop by and discuss the project. I'll also make myself available prior to the show should anyone be interested in learning more about the region of Chinese Turkistan and my inspiration behind the project. With the recent news of unrest in Urumqi I feel that it is really time to begin looking more closely at Xinjiang, and begin a serious dialog about the repercussions of such unrest. It's often considered a forgotten part of the world, but the people there are beginning to rise up and are very capable of challenging government authority.

In my eyes the project is timely and beginning to come together. I hope you'll have a chance to attend the show. The work will stay on display at the DEG for 2 months after August 6th. I hope there is a chance to meet up with each and every one of you at some stage. Follow the gallery website link above to view my bio and project summary as well as some of the images that will be displayed at the show.

I hope if you are in Toronto you'll have a chance to stop by.

--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Friday, July 24, 2009

Ryan Pyle Blog: Accessing my Blog

Hello.

I've been in North America working for the last few weeks and I can't tell you what a dream it is not having to worry about internet filters and restrictions. Living in China, I often have to use a proxy to evade the firewall. This needs to be used on a daily basis to update my website and blog, and it can be an exhausting process as the proxies are never very stable.

Being in Toronto, and North America in general, I can't believe how bliss it is just being able to access my blog and various websites. It's quick and easy, and the funny thing is that Canadians, and American's, don't look corrupted by internet content. So is the benevolent filtering really helpful? Or is China just making the problem much bigger than it is so that they can save a few thousand "net nanny" jobs at the Propaganda Bureau?

Making jobs is important in this day and age, but the "net nanny" society that currently exists in China wreaks of the Cultural Revolution era when children ratted out their parents and neighbors for "capitalist behavior". I wish we could all just grow up a bit. Yes, there are lots of bad things on the internet; and there are lots of good things as well. Make it free, get parents to do there job and get the government to back off.

Some days it can be exhausting living in the day to day mess that is China. Luckily, I have my proxy. I just need to find a way to upload pictures to clients faster and I'll be well on my way to a fully functioning photographer; instead of one trapped behind a fire wall that makes updating his Facebook "status" a 30 minute painful ordeal.

I promise, that's the last bitch session about the internet in China.

--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Ryan Pyle Blog: The NEW Ryan Pyle Website

Hello.

It has only been a few months since my last website upgrade, I know a bit skittish. While my previous website was more than adequate it was tough to edit, upgrade and make changes to. So I've opted for the new Photojournalism website service set up by Livebooks.com. It's about US$45 per month, less if you pay for a full year. Very flexible and easily upgraded-able. I can change my contact details and photo essays using their clean back-end user interface.

While it's all flash, it runs very quickly, they also have a full meta-data program that should keep me well listed on search engines.

It's clean, easy to make changes to and more than does the job. Hopefully potential clients will find it enticing enough to give me a bell. Needless to say, I'm pleased with the site, the service and the speed with which the tech folks get back to me.

Am I endorsing it? Well, no. I spent a lot of time and energy telling people how much I loved Digital Railroad and that really came back to haunt me. But Livebooks provides a good service for ME. And I'm pleased. You'll need to make your own choices. Best of luck.

My new website can be viewed at: www.ryanpyle.com

--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Monday, July 20, 2009

Ryan Pyle Blog: The Umbrella Men!

Hello.

Being a journalist in China is tough. How tough? Will, of all the journalists in China I think that television journalists have it the worst. They can't really conceal the big cameras and often try to do their piece with the news actually happening behind them, a tall order.

A good friend of mine recently forwarded me a clip of "plain clothes" police officers running some interference during both a BBC and CNN story in Beijing. Is being a journalist in China dangerous? Not usually. Is being a journalist in China mind numbing and frustrating beyond belief? In most instances, yes. Please enjoy the video, click the link below:

The Umbrella Men

--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Ryan Pyle Blog: Kodak Suffering / But Still Supporting


Hello.

I have been wanting to blog about Kodak for some time now, and it took an article I read a few weeks back to jump-start my process.

First the article: yes, according to the photo world Kodak is retiring Kodachrome, it's most famous color film brand; used for decades by thousands of photographers; and was even the film used by Steve McCurry when he captured his famous "Afghan girl with green eyes" image that graced the cover of best selling National Geographic edition ever.

LINK: New York Times: Kodak Will Retire Kodachrome

I was shocked to read that color film only seems to represent 1% of Kodaks "still-picture" business, while they generate 70% of their revenues from digital sources. Amazing that Kodak, once synonymous with the word "film" is now out of the color game that it started in the 1950s and 1960s. It's a bit of a sad day for us film lovers out there.

Moving laterally, but still slightly on topic, I am a heavy user of Black and White Kodak TriX 400 film. It's what I use to produce my work from Xinjiang and I completely depend on it for the completion of my project. And even while Kodak is clearly experiencing a lot of turmoil in their film business, I actually received a very nice letter from Mary jane Hellyar, who was also interviewed in the NYTimes article, who congratulated me on being named an emerging photographer by PDN and then proceeded to offer me a significant amount of Black and White TriX for free; to help support my work.

I was stunned................in a good way. I would just like to use this space to again thank Mary Jane Hellyar and Kodak. Big batches of film are the best gift in the world.

Mary Jane Hellyar is the President of Kodak's film business and the offer of assistance and support is very welcomed. I was overwhelmed with her letter and very appreciative to have a company whose products I use to produce my images offer some form of support. Given the state of the film industry I would have to say that my enthusiasm is even greater.

In a show of continued support I just ordered about 200 rolls of TriX on B&H a few days back. This autumn is going to be full of some heavy shooting as I am trying to put the finishing touches on my Xinjiang project. I hope the film division of Kodak are around long enough to see the published work. My guess is they will be. Black and White and fine art photographers still rely pretty heavily on Kodak and my guess is that their Black and White business is still profitable; and I hope that is not just wishful thinking.

Again, thank you Kodak! :)

--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Friday, July 10, 2009

Ryan Pyle Blog: Work Conditions Getting Worse


Hello.

Much fuss was made last year when China unveiled a series of labor laws that seemed to better protect the average worker. Now an URBAN debate continues to rage on whether the labors laws just protect the unproductive or whether they are really useful, and timely.

But what about the migrant workers? Are they protected under the labor law and have their lives improved? Well, the labor law, see article, seemed to be focused in the right places but no one was expecting a financial crisis - which led to a demand crisis - which led to a Chinese export crisis - which led to a Dongguan crisis - which led to most employers throwing the new labor law out the window. What a series of chain reactions!

LINK: New York Times: Despite Law, Job Conditions Worsen in China

David Barboza for the New York Times writes an interesting feature on the plight of one family, in one factory and how that relates to the industry at large. I photographed the portrait of the family in question under very tense conditions just a few steps away from the factory where their son had been killed.

Having spent so much time in China, I've seen my fair share of factory floors and I had been under the impression that things were improving. Over the years working conditions have improved, even if wages and living conditions haven't. But workers still work too many hours, too much overtime and in poorly lit conditions - which leds to exhaustion and avoidable accidents, sometimes fatal.

My intention for this blog is to raise awareness that the financial crisis is causing cut backs not just in the US and Europe but also on the factory floors of southern China; and those cutbacks have led to more dangerous working conditions the for the most exposed portion of China's population - it's migrant workers. Please do read the article, it's a good one; I am very glad I was able to be a part of it.

--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Thursday, July 09, 2009

Ryan Pyle Blog: Tibet vs Xinjiang

Hello.

Well, i don't mind eating my words from time to time; and it looks like that is exactly what I'll be doing during this blog. Two days ago I blogged about the violence in Urumqi and how things seemed to be shaping up. I made a reference to Lhasa last March and how journalists watched from afar, and how chasing this kind of public rioting and conflict in China is akin to chasing ghosts.

It seems I have made a misjudgment; and for that I need to make a correction.

Urumqi is a large metropolis of about 2 million or so people, and Xinjiang is effectively "open", where as Tibet is "closed". This fact means that basically foreigners can travel freely to Xinjiang without having to apply for permits through travel agents. This fact is central to the quick response, and success, of the foreign media is reporting on the riots. There are also about 5 flights a day from Shanghai to Urumqi, equal to that of Beijing, and those flights are direct; unlike to Lhasa where you need to change plans in Chengdu. Beyond logistics I'm amazed, after reading the news and seeing the news clips, that there is some much coming out of Urumqi and how the major news sources are putting together strong stories. Whereas almost nothing came out of Lhasa in the first 72 hours.

I expected the riots to last only one day; followed by a brutal clamp down. But that hasn't really happened. The big round up of arrests has caused further sparks, including a group of elderly women and children acting out in front of foreign journalists. After that journalists seem to have open access to hospitals, where both Uygur and Chinese are recovering. I was really surprised when a group of Han Chinese, packing bats and knives, went out looking for trouble in Uygur neighborhoods. There will be more of this in the coming days I reckon. The feelings are boiling over from years of distrust and frustration between the two dominant ethnic groups in Xinjiang. And I am sure people will keep acting out in front of the foreign media.

It seems that there is a lot to report on and that, for now, the government is at least tolerating the media presence; and that might change at anytime. I'm very sad I'm not actually there at the moment. I'm stuck in Canada watching from the sidelines, but I've never been very good at being a breaking news photographer. I'll be visiting Xinjiang, and Urumqi specifically, in August and I'm sure there will be an opportunity to document, in some way, the clashes we've been witnessing.

I've lived in China for eight years now, and I've been documenting Xinjiang for about four years; making 4-5 trips a year to various parts of the province. It really pains me to see the fringes of the country tearing itself apart like this. First Tibet, now Xinjiang. Years and years of misrule and inequality have led to a boiling over of frustrations. I hope the loss of life ends quickly and the situation comes back under control, but not mass execution kind of control. Chinese leaders need to start thinking about long term solutions for both Tibet and Xinjiang; and there is no excuse for them to have not already figured out some sort of path. It's not like they need to worry about elections every four years.

More messiness to follow.

--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Monday, July 06, 2009

Ryan Pyle Blog: Violence in Urumqi


Hello.

First off, I want to say the picture above is from Kashgar, my archive has nothing from Urumqi at the moment. On to the blog. See below.

Today I awoke in Shanghai to reports of civil unrest in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province in North West China. I was taken aback to be honest. There are reports of 140 dead and several hundred injured in what seems like a virtual repeat of what occurred in Tibet last March, prior to the Olympics.

It appears that local Uygur's targeted Han Chinese stores and business as well as innocent passers by. A group of about a 1000 Uygurs (as Xinhua reported) gathered in the main market area near the Grand Mosque in Urumqi and began causing the chaos. Urumqi has, for many years, been void of much interest. I've been dozens of times and can honestly say that it is often best avoided. It's market's are quiet, it's architecture is Chinese and the Uygur's are a minority. As an example of how stable Urumqi has been: Starwood Hotels even put their Sheraton brand on a local hotel there thinking that it was a safe and reliable place for business. Today that might have been turned on its head.

There is always more than meets the eye to these types of situations and this incident is no different. A few weeks ago there was a brawl at a toy factory in China's southern Guangdong province between Uygur migrant workers and Han migrant workers and two Uygurs were killed. Reports of this circled around within Uygur groups for weeks and that may have fanned the flames of violence witnessed in the last few hours.

The Chinese government, however, is suggesting that outside influences, such as pro Xinjiang independence groups that are based outside of China, are meddling in their internal affairs and helping to organize the riots. While that may be true, the people of Xinjiang, in my mind, don't need any outside influence to rise up at what has been a brutal authoritarian regime in Xinjiang; which has essentially destroyed an enter way of life and replaced it with one that is secular and alien to the region.

With that being said, Urumqi has often been a place of quiet peace, with incidents occurring in more far flung towns like Khotan and Kashgar. But this new wave of violence has occurred in the capital of the province; and from the looks of the video footage on BBC and CNN looks incredibly brutal.

The New York Times filed this peace earlier in the day from Beijing. My guess is that a lot of foreign journalists are making plans to get to Xinjiang as quickly as possible, but it will all be over by the time they arrive. Much like chasing any dissidents and protesters in China, it's akin to chasing ghosts. By the time the journalists arrive the streets are already repaved, the paint is already dry, and life is back to normal; minus the thousands thrown in jail without trial, representation or a legal leg to stand on. And so the cycle continues. it's happened again and again with both minorities people, such as Tibetans and Uygurs, and as well to the Han majority; both often feed up of favoritism and corruption that is tearing this country apart.

This is bound to get a lot of play in the Chinese media, as the propanda department seems to think that the government has a lot to gain by projecting the image that minority terrorist groups are trying to break apart the country and a strong hand is needed, not just in Xinjiang but throughout the entire Middle Kingdom.

My guess is that most of the dead were innocent Han Chinese bystanders or shop keepers, hence the Chinese media coverage, much like the riots in Lhasa. If that is true, it begs the question: "To what end?" What gains can be achieved by killing innocent Han Chinese shop keepers and bus drivers? Does that send the right message? While their anger and frustration may be justified, in a democratic and free Western civilization, their end results are far from potent. Having the majority of the country, that being the Han, think that the Uygurs hate them and want to kill everyone at first glance sends entirely the wrong message; and in many ways this plays in to the hands on the government who are looking for excuses to clamp down harder. In Lhasa last March three young Han Chinese girls died when Tibetan's set fire to their clothing store in Lhasa; a death penalty for selling clothes is hardly forwarding the cause of Tibetan independence, and it won't help at all for the Uygurs either. If these types of events are organized abroad then they are poorly though out and executed; my guess is that the events we have been witnessing over the last day and a half were organic and nothing more than a bit of mob rule.

If the Uygurs, and the Tibetans alike, want more autonomy and more independence I don't think they'll further their cause by killing Han Chinese shop keepers and taxi drivers. As I mentioned above they are playing in to the hands of their masters. But perhaps things have become so desperate and hopeless that this is all that is left, mob rule and random lethal force, and if that is true we are in for a brutal cycle of violence. Below is Ed Wong's story from earlier today. My guess is that the NYT will have someone on the ground in the coming hours.

_______________________________
Copy write: New York Times
Ethnic Clashes in Western China Are Said to Kill Scores

By EDWARD WONG

BEIJING — The Chinese state news agency reported Monday that at least 140 people were killed and 816 injured when rioters clashed with the police in a regional capital in western China after days of rising tensions between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.

The casualty toll, if confirmed, would make this the deadliest outbreak of violence in China in many years.

The rioting broke out Sunday afternoon in a large market area of Urumqi, the capital of the vast, restive desert region of Xinjiang, and lasted for several hours before riot police officers and paramilitary or military troops locked down the Uighur quarter of the city, according to witnesses and photographs of the riot.

At least 1,000 rioters took to the streets, throwing stones at the police and setting vehicles on fire. Plumes of smoke billowed into the sky, while police officers used fire hoses and batons to beat back rioters and detained Uighurs who appeared to be leading the protest, witnesses said.

The casualty numbers appeared to be murky and shifting on Monday. Xinhua, the state news agency, said the toll so far was 140 dead and 828 wounded, citing regional police officials. Earlier, Xinhua had reported that three civilians and one police officer were killed.

One regional official reached by telephone put the death toll at 105 and said at least 800 people had been injured. One American who watched the rioting at its height said he did not see people being killed or corpses in the streets, though he said he did see Uighurs shoving or kicking a few Han Chinese. Images of the rioting on state television showed some bloody people lying in the streets and cars burning.

Dozens of Uighur men were led into police stations on Sunday evening with their hands behind their backs and shirts pulled over their heads, one witness said. Early Monday, the local government announced a curfew banning all traffic in the city until 8 p.m.

The riot was the largest ethnic clash in China since the Tibetan uprising of March 2008, and perhaps the biggest protest in Xinjiang in years. Like the Tibetan unrest, it highlighted the deep-seated frustrations felt by some ethnic minorities in western China over the policies of the Communist Party, and how that can quickly turn into ethnic violence. Last year, in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, at least 19 people were killed, most of them Han civilians, according to government statistics.

Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim group, resent rule by the Han Chinese, and Chinese security forces have tried to keep oil-rich Xinjiang under tight control since the 1990s, when cities there were struck by waves of protests, riots and bombings. Last summer, attacks on security forces took place in several cities in Xinjiang; the Chinese government blamed separatist groups.

Early Monday, Chinese officials said the latest riots were started by Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur human rights advocate who had been imprisoned in China and now lives in Washington, Xinhua reported. As with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, Chinese officials often blame Ms. Kadeer for ethnic unrest; she denies the charges.

The clashes on Sunday began when the police confronted a protest march held by Uighurs to demand a full government investigation of a brawl between Uighur and Han workers that erupted in Guangdong Province overnight on June 25 and June 26. The brawl took place in a toy factory and left 2 Uighurs dead and 118 people injured. The police later arrested a bitter ex-employee of the factory who had ignited the fight by starting a rumor that six Uighur men had raped two Han women at the work site, Xinhua reported.

There was also a rumor circulating on Sunday in Urumqi that a Han man had killed a Uighur in the city earlier in the day, said Adam Grode, an English teacher living in the neighborhood where the rioting took place.

“This is just crazy,” Mr. Grode said by telephone Sunday night. “There was a lot of tear gas in the streets, and I almost couldn’t get back to my apartment. There’s a huge police presence.”

Mr. Grode said he saw a few Han civilians being harassed by Uighurs. Rumors of Uighurs attacking Han Chinese spread quickly through parts of Urumqi, adding to the panic. A worker at the Texas Restaurant, a few hundred yards from the site of the rioting, said her manager had urged the restaurant workers to stay inside. Xinhua reported few details of the riot on Sunday night. It said that “an unknown number of people gathered Sunday afternoon” in Urumqi, “attacking passers-by and setting fire to vehicles.”

Uighurs are the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang but are a minority in Urumqi, where Han Chinese make up more than 70 percent of the population of two million or so. The Chinese government has encouraged Han migration to the city and other parts of Xinjiang, fueling resentment among the Uighurs. Urumqi is a deeply segregated city, with Han Chinese there rarely venturing into the Uighur quarter.

The Uighur neighborhood is centered in a warren of narrow alleyways, food markets and a large shopping area called the Grand Bazaar or the Erdaoqiao Market, where the rioting reached its peak on Sunday.

Mr. Grode, who lives in an apartment there, said he went outside when he first heard commotion around 6 p.m. He saw hundreds of Uighurs in the streets; that quickly swelled to more than 1,000, he said.

Police officers soon arrived. Around 7 p.m., protesters began hurling rocks and vegetables from the market at the police, Mr. Grode said. Traffic ground to a halt. An hour later, as the riot surged toward the center of the market, troops in green uniforms and full riot gear showed up, as did armored vehicles. Chinese government officials often deploy the People’s Armed Police, a paramilitary force, to quell riots.

By midnight, Mr. Grode said, some of the armored vehicles had begun to leave, but bursts of gunfire could still be heard.
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--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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