Artists Statement:
“City of Ambition is a series of colour photographers from Chongqing, one of the largest cities in the world. The images aim to reflect the sheer dimensions of the cityscape. Like most of my work, this project has autobiographic roots: I got to know the city through my wife’s family who live there. Chongqing was granted municipal status in 1997, rather late compared to Shanghai. But the people of Chongqing are very eager to show the world and their sister cities in China who they are. Together with the booming economy, this leads to an explosion in city development. Construction sites and cranes can be seen everywhere. What is taking place resembles Manhattan in the 1920s with the construction of skyscrapers. So Stieglitz’s name for Chongqing, “City of Ambition“, reflects its transition. 

“I am mostly interested in the outskirts of Chongqing, where the city can’t really be seen, but rather sensed. Also construction sites and places of change are of main interest to me. They show us metaphorical facets of the huge changes taking place in contemporary China. Astonishingly, Chongqing is an unknown place for most people in the western world. The city is located in Southwest China’s region of Sichuan and was the capital of China during World War II. The municipality is populated by approximately 32 million people.”

About the Artist:
Ferit Kuyas (b. 1955) was born in Istanbul, Turkey and lives in Switzerland. Since completing his degree at the University of Zurich in 1982, he has had a number of solo shows in Switzerland, and has featured in group shows across Europe and China. This will be his first exhibition in London.

The exhibition is part of the China Now festival.