Verdickt, Franky - The South Street Village (Nanjiecun)

"The central Chinese village of Nanjiecun (The South Street Village) lies in the Chinese province of Henan. The province of Henan has been seen as the cradle of Chinese culture and civilization. The Maoist village of Nanjiecun continues to be run on Maoist egalitarian lines. Thus the images shows the last and only remaining Maoist village in China, where people are mere background actors in a giant epic story. A place where the community are the producers of their own happiness, where people receive free housing, electricity and receive free healthcare. The Nanjiecun village promotes itself as a brand for real commu- nist ideology in the land of Mao Zedong. The South Street Village proclaims harmonious, a trouble-less world. But underneath this perfection lies an uneasiness, since the people in The South Street Village don’t seem to feel thàt comfortable in this perfect world. The who- le project was staged in cooperation with the people from Nanjiecun." (F.V.)

Review:
"This series provides a unique and critical view on the ideals of Communism—as well as on the crisis of capitalism—in a microcosm in which we are never able to distinguish reality from fiction. To reach the final, lush result, the photographer utilized a variety of visual lan- guages, applying different photography techniques to convey his concept. Still photography, lighting, mis-en-scene and performance all played a role. This is a daring project, executed masterfully." (Eder Chiodetto, Curator of Photography, Museum of Modern Art of São Paolo)

Awards: Lensculture Exposure Award 2014

About the photographer (*1971):
Franky Verdickt he graduated in 2007 with a Master in Photography from Sint Lucas Brussels in Belgium. In his personal work he recreates reality by trying to under- stand the essence of what a certain reality means. He plays with truth in the images, as he under- stands that truth is a construction that is man made. By being aware of this, his images become true images, by mixing reality and fiction. His personal work has been awarded several times and exhibited around the world.
In 2014 he published the book ‘The South Street Village’, a staged project about the last and only Maoist village in China. In 2015 he published his second book ‘Nobody likes to be hindered by worldly troubles’. Franky Verdickt currently lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.