On the Burmese Border: Ruili, Drug Capital of China
Lu Guang
Gamma
Lu Guang, who is often introduced as the “People’s photographer”, is forty-five years old and has made his name over the last two decades as one of the most authoritative observers of contemporary Chinese society. The subjects covered range from gold diggers to prostitutes and SARS victims, the outcasts of society being presented, so faithfully, in the remarkable pictures by the former textile worker who, by serendipity, became a photographer. In the 1980s, Lu Guang was fascinated by landscapes and soon he had established a reputation as a professional photographer. After going to the Central Arts and Design Academy in Beijing, where he perfected his technique and expanded his general knowledge in the field of photography, he turned towards more committed social statements, with photo-reporting, bearing witness, or as he describes it “documentary photography”.
Preview
The term “document” is certainly relevant to the extraordinary work done by Lu Guang on AIDS victims. In November 2001, Lu Guang heard about villages in the province of Henan with 60% of the population HIV positive because of blood dealing. His report revealing the scandal won the World Press Photo Award in 2004 (Contemporary Issues-Stories category). The pictures were as forceful as those he is now showing, from Ruili, the drug capital of China, on the border with Burma. Lu Guang made a film there in 1995 and went back seven years later, in 2002, with his still camera. The city is now in the hands of dealers. On another two occasions, in 2003, he delved into the darker side of the city, alongside teenagers and their heroin-tortured bodies, young prostitutes ready to do anything to get the money for their daily fix and drug rehabilitation centers where methods are radical. Lu Guang knows how to go unnoticed. He reports. He makes no judgments.
