March 29, 2007

Exhibit depicts life in shadow of Chinese dam project

Visitors to the Dittmar Memorial Gallery’s Spring 2007 exhibition, “Seeking Higher Ground: Life in the Shadow of the Three Gorges Dam,” will experience part of Chicago photographer Clark Everett’s 14-month sojourn to China. His photographs also provide a portrait of a Chinese community, capturing moments in the lives of people — young and old — faced with the changes brought about by a monumental modernization drive, of which the Three Gorges Dam project is a key catalyst.

Everett’s more than 30-piece photography exhibition is open through May 7 at the Dittmar Gallery.

The exhibition and an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 5, are free and open to the public.

Everett moved to China in 2000 to explore, through photography, the effects of the Three Gorges Dam project and to experience a different culture. During his stay, he made black and white photographs of Chinese citizens, construction and street scenes. Teaching English at Three Gorges University in Yichang facilitated his stay.

One of the most compelling sites Everett captured with his camera was the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in central China. Scheduled for completion in 2009, the dam will span 1.3 miles across the Yangtze River near Yichang, Hubei province, partially flooding the historic and scenic Three Gorges of China. This ambitious and controversial project is enormous in scale and creates tremendous upheaval on various fronts. Its purpose is to remedy catastrophic flooding as well as the increased demands for electricity in a rapidly developing society.

The 400-mile-long reservoir created by the dam will require the resettlement of — by Chinese government statistics — 1.3 million people, sometimes far from their ancestral homes. Everett’s photographs examine the doomed or rapidly changing areas as well as the Chinese residents who are struggling with tremendous changes. Some adapt to this change successfully; others do not.

Downstream from the dam, Everett said there is almost a “boomtown” feel. Large billboards hail the achievement of the massive dam project. Increased investment into the area as a result of the dam quickly transforms a traditional agriculture-based economy to a more diverse, individual-oriented and modern economy. Upstream from the dam, where people must be relocated, they wait with uncertainty. Large signs, with bright red triangles and numbers marking the future level of the reservoir, are scattered throughout the cities, reminding the citizens of their impending departure and unknown future.

“The people in these frames are not laboratory specimens in a sociological experiment,” said Everett. “Rather they are full participants with an enormous stake in a struggle with, to Western eyes, nearly inconceivable change. It is my hope that these photographs capture their dignity as they deal with the shifting landscapes, while at the same time preserve a record of a life the future will not know.”