Ryan Pyle Blog: Artist Lecture @ Arta Gallery in Toronto

Hello.

Event Coming next week. See below:

March 3, 2010 at 7:00PM

ARTIST LECTURE: CHINESE TURKESTAN by Ryan Pyle

A lecture by award winning documentary photographer Ryan Pyle. Ryan Pyle has been visiting China’s western Xinjiang province regularly since 2001. Formerly known as Chinese Turkestan, this vast expanse of deserts and mountains has seemingly always been at a crossroads between cultures and time. For centuries, criminals, holy men, and traders tramped across the region; and it was out of this tradition that the Silk Road was established. Ryan has just returned to Toronto from a recent series of trips and is commencing a series of lectures on the fast paced development, and rapid loss of cultural heritage, in the region.

“The culture is vanishing before my eyes”, Ryan says, “each time I return something is missing: a market, an old shop full of blacksmiths, a local mosque”.

This talk is a continuation of, and an update to, Ryan's standing-room-only talk given at the Dylan Ellis Gallery in 2009.

(www.ryanpyle.com)

Address is:
Arta Gallery
suite 102, Building 9, 55 Mill St.
Toronto, On M5A 3C4
CANADA
http://www.artagallery.ca

Our telephone:
+1-416-364-2782

--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
_______________________________________

Ryan Pyle Blog: New Work from Chinese Turkistan

Hello,

I just wanted to write to make you aware of some new work I've completed on my multi-year project about Chinese Turkistan, or China's northwestern Xinjiang province.

The project has been an exciting progression in both the disciplines of anthropology and photography, in an attempt to emulate the methodology of the great documentary photographers of the past century. It's been a most challenging task, and at stages it has been an incredibly rewarding process. The task at hand, is still that of documenting a culture and a way of life that is struggling to come to grips with an ever expanding Chinese presence throughout the region. This struggle, in my opinion, will always exist at some level; and my documentary project may never have a finite ending because of that. But still I continue to visit the region several times a year, capturing glimpses of a culture on its last legs - so to speak.

Xinjiang was in the news for all of the wrong reasons during much of July and August for ethnic riots in the city of Urumqi. And while Urumqi was clearly the flashpoint, the rest of China's largest province remains relatively calm as the local population comes to terms with the development goals of the regional government. Below are two links. The first is to a series of new work, some of which was included in a gallery show that I had in Toronto, Canada in August 2009. The second link is a wider edit of both new and old work covering the last several years.

The New Work:
LINK: http://archive.ryanpyle.com

A Wide Edit of Old and New work:
LINK: http://archive.ryanpyle.com

--
Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
_______________________________________

Ryan Pyle Blog: Final Reminder, Gallery Exhibition "Chinese Turkistan"

Hello,

Bare with me, just a final reminder that my Chinese Turkistan show will run tomorrow. The show will be held at the newly renovated Dylan Ellis Gallery (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
_______________________________________

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
_______________________________________