Chahe is a Chinese visual artist based in London. He works across a range of media including paintings, photography and video art. With a BA in Oil Painting and experience as a journalist in mass media, his work explores how images and videos can be scaffolded and reconstructed to represent the hidden, deeper layers of people’s lifestyles and mindsets. Construction Sites is a project that discusses a crucial part of the Chinese urbanisation process—construction workers. “I found that although they are becoming an inseparable part of the city, still they have a strong sense of distance from it, which leads to an ambiguous identity that shifts sometimes imperceptibly between autonomy and distance.” Those workers can be seen anywhere in the city, but they aren’t truly noticed by residents. “Once you have been labeled with the name of a group, your personal traits are no longer the first thing taken into consideration.” By highlighting these workers in their day-to-day contexts, the project aims to show individuals rather than a group picture.
Chahe Chaherige
