Armchair Review Research

The first documentary project that impressed me was from LensCulture website. The project is called “Combing for Ice and Jade” and was shot by Kurt Tong.  This project combines a personal story and public history through a series of images, starting from Tong’s nanny, Mak Ngan Yuk, one of the last self-combed women if China.

This is one of the photographs from the “Combing Ice and Jade.” The photo seems like it was taken from the perspective of the living room. In the horizontal direction, the cabinet occupies 3/4 of the image, dark red, with empty bottles, containers, and fabric at the top. But more obvious is that there are two black and white images. One is bigger, and the other one is smaller. In Chinese culture, people put up their family members pictures in black and white when they passed away. I think this is the case that these two portraits are the family members of this house owner. On the far left side of the photo, there are boxes of blankets with dirt. You can even see dirt on the cabinet and the wall, probably the room has been empty for a while. This is not the kind of photo surprises you when you see it, but you just want to look at every detail of it and think about what happened here.

This photograph is also from Kurt Tong’s “Combing for Ice and Jade.” This is an image that combines two photos, one is the kid sitting on the grass, and the other is the jade earrings. It matches with the name of this project. As can be seen from this picture, the jade earrings image covers the child’s head. It seems like the pair of earrings is the eyes of this kid. The background picture is an old picture that Kurt found from his family album, and I think he put the jade earrings photo on the head on purpose. My guess is jade means purity and preciousness in the Chinese culture, and Kurt wants to express that the child was innocent, and especially saw this photo after a long time, it is a precious memory for him. 

The second documentary project that impressed me was from Magnum Photos website, it is called “The Darker Side of Tourism” by Thomas Dworzak. From the name of the project, it is a set of pictures about negative tourism impact. This project is part of Thomas ongoing series, War Games, which he goes to visit different war memorials and museums and took photographs of tourists at those places.

This is an image from the project “The Darker Side of Tourism.” The woman with a fancy hat is at the center of the photo, and she is nicely dressed. The picture is taken at the 9/11 memorial when Donald Trump won the Presidential elections. Looking at the dress worn by the lady, it has Hillary Clinton's portrait on her dress. I am not that familiar with American politics, but I think it is pretty ironic. This photo is probably an accident, but it has a lot to say about this interesting time.

From the same ongoing project, this is a picture taken at the Palace where the WWII Yalta conference took place. A tourist is at the corner of the image, behind him, they are three wax figures of the heads of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union governments. This conference is a turning point in the reconstruction of the country after the war in the history of the world. From the image, the guy is smiling and taking pictures with these three wax figures. The colors in this photo are vivid, they all wear dark colors suits, like black and dark green at the back. However, the guy wears bright red shirts. This photo makes me think of positive and negative tourism photography.

Works Cited

“The Darker Side of Tourism • Thomas Dworzak • Magnum Photos.” Magnum Photos, 25 July 2019, www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/society-arts-culture/thomas-dworzak-dark-tourism/.

Tong, Kurt. “Combing for Ice and Jade - Photographs by Kurt Tong: Review by Sophie Wright.” LensCulture, www.lensculture.com/articles/kurt-tong-combing-for-ice-and-jade.