木格(MuGe)
Born in Chongqing in 1979, Muge currently lives in Chengdu, China. Founder of MugeTang Art Space. He received the Photographer of the Year Award from American photography magazine PND in 2013, and was selected as one of the most notable photographers born in the 1970s and 1980s by IMA Magazine, Japan.
Muge’s photographs were featured in The New York Times; Le Monde magazine and Photography of China. His works have been exhibited in and out of China, including his solo exhibition “Behind the Wall” at Format Photo Festival in 2019; “40 Years of Chinese Contemporary Photography” at OACT Contemporary Art Terminal Shenzhen in 2018 and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre Beijing in 2017; “Chinese Contemporary Photography Exhibition” at Kunstraum Villa Friede in Germany in 2015; “The Rising of Dragon: Contemporary Chinese Photography Exhibition” at Katonah Museum of New York in 2012. His main publications are “Ash” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2013 for the first edition, 2019 for the new edition. Japan) and “Going Home” (Jiazazhi, 2014. China).
Since 2005, Muge started his “Going Home” project to document the drastically changing landscapes on the way back to his hometown in Chongqing due to the Three Gorges water conservancy project. Facing the contradictions and hopelessness brought about by the tremendous changes in China’s social environment, Muge rethought his way of photographing and viewing and eventually started using a large-format technical camera to observe the still life at home and various things in nature. In his “Ash” series which began in 2010, Muge focused on three unchanging elements – mountain, water, and stone – through observing the traces of time and history, he attempted to comprehend the true essence of nature. Muge’s recent project “Behind the Wall” recorded his journeys around China from 2013 to 2018, traveling 128,658 kilometers along the boundary of the Great Wall and visited the villages in the north as he photographed the sites of the Great Wall and the people he encountered. The aim was to create a portrait of his home nation through its symbolic icon, attempting to develop a deeper understanding of China, his “home at large”. The concept of “home” which Muge has been continuously concerned with has expanded beyond his hometown.Muge’s works have circled through the realistic facts and his spiritual space. In the recent years, he has paid attention to the relationship between the materiality of photography and the setting of space, and he has created a new entry point by revealing this "relationship".
In addition to being an artist, Muge is also the founder of Muge Tang Art Space. In 2015, he co-founded the online art platform of Muge Tang, that is still an active platform for discussing and sharing contemporary photography in China. In the same year, Muge founded the Muge Tang Art Space, which mainly covers three contents: art creation (Muge Studio), art education (MIA) and art collection (MAA) . The space presents diverse art projects and activities including exhibitions, education, publishing and live events throughout the year.