Land and Sea: DoDo Jin Ming

On the 10 of June, the Chicago Area Peace Corps Association (CAPCA) had it's annual Founder's Day Dinner in one of the exhibition spaces at the Loyola University Museum of Art. I had the chance to eat a delicious meal, talk with other RPCV's, and be surrounded by the photographs of DoDo Jin Ming. She sounds fascinating, was born in Beijing and studied classical violin, later playing with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Her life changed after seeing an exhibition of Joseph Beuy's drawings, and she abandoned music, turning immediately to the art of photography.

In her seascapes, one wonders how it is she manages to make you feel as if you were in the midst of a great storm, about to be engulfed by waves. The answer: she ties herself to a boat so she herself isn't swept away. Her land photographs, featuring sunflowers on the plains of the Dakotas, were taken during a roadtrip Ming took, shortly after first arriving in the U.S. She happened across an experiment where scientists had placed white cloth over some of the flowers. Probably beautiful in itself, after Ming's process the scene takes on a completely different tone. I was just amazed by this exhibition and hope these photographs, scrounged from the Internet, will create some of the same emotions in you.