China on a pedestal

China's spectacular economic growth over the last few decades has provided ample fodder for contemporary Chinese artists - and for prolific photographer Wang Qingsong in particular. With his human recreations of public statues, he takes a wry look at the uneasy mish-mash of tradition and modernity that has come to characterise his nation. By liberally caking his models in mud, gold or silver and setting them on plinths, Qingsong conjures up anything from the Communist monuments in Tiananmen Square (Past, Present and Future) to ancient Buddhist idols (as seen here) - and to cap it all, the man himself crops up to play the gawping spectator trying to make sense of it all.
Holly Kyte