Kurt Tong: In Case it Rains in Heaven

(12 May — 30 May 2011)

Kemistry Gallery is delighted to present award-winning photographer Kurt Tong’s In case it rains in heaven: a poetic series of colour photographs depicting the continuing Chinese tradition of inventive paper offerings to the dead.

Many Chinese believe that, when a person dies, they leave with no earthly possessions, and it is therefore left to the descendants to provide for them in the afterlife. As such either mass - produced or custom made paper money and  objects are burned at funerals as a votive offering, to ensure wealth in the afterlife. With the growth of capitalism in China, increasingly wealthy urban city dwellers have further developed this tradition of Joss paper. Now, not only money but also objects of consumer desire are burned. Viagra, Louis Vuitton bags, iPods and all manner of branded goods are reproduced in paper.

Since gaining a Masters in documentary photography at the London College of Communications in 2006, Kurt Tong has gained wide acclaim for projects such as People’s Park, which documented the now- deserted Communist era public spaces in China and was awarded the coveted Jerwood Photography Prize in 2008. Tong’s work has been widely published and exhibited around the world at venues including the Royal Academy, Fotofest in Houston and London’s Photofusion. Kurt currently lives and works in London and Hong Kong.

Advanced copies of the book In Case it Rains in Heaven, published by Kehrer Verlag, will be available for purchase during the exhibition.

Comments