Nathalie Perakis-Valat

REAL SHANGHAI ?

After moving around the world, from Europe to the US to Asia, Shanghai was a revelation to me. This city has changed my life. I spend hours walking around with my camera, capturing places, faces and situations that deeply move me. I try to understand the Chinese’s lives and culture. They are undergoing such dramatic changes. Sometimes I manage to chat with the people; I then feel so fulfilled to have been able to share a few moments of their lives. Sometimes I just snap a shoot and run. To me, Shanghai is a place full of real people living in an unreal environment. Real people… young and old, rich and poor, spoiled and struggling, innocent and full of wisdom, Shanghainese and those from different provinces, all these people are the REAL individuals I confront. Their environment seems so unreal. Symbol of a successful China, Shanghai is a combination of modernity and tradition, of authenticity and kitsch, of fantastic wealth and extreme misery, perpetually changing at a frantic pace. Places vanish, others appear, are we dreaming? The digital image helps me emphasize this vision. Thanks to collage and colour enhancement the surrealistic becomes more obvious. When looking at my pictures, people should be wondering what is real and what isn’t… When the process begins, through the lens of my camera, I am a spectator. Then on my computer, I become a composer. Finally, I sign discreetly, by appearing as part of this unreal world. If people feel tenderness, humour and amazement in my works, my photos will have accomplished their mission.

Photographer

Born in Paris, trained in business at the HEC Business School in Paris, I am a self-taught French photographer who was based in Shanghai from 2010 to 2016. Having lived in Brussels, Düsseldorf, Madrid, New York, and Shanghai, I am always very inspired by a desire to capture the lives of the people I encounter.

Shanghai fascinated me immediately.
I was first struck by the contrasts and the surreality of this city, which I expressed in my series "Real Shanghai ?" through collage and color enhancement.

Attracted to the traditional neighborhoods, for my "Lilong Treasures" project, I spent 2 years discovering the Chinese people's lives and culture but also creating poetry of the vestiges through abstract compositions.

In Shanghai Keystones, I tried to bring a different light to construction sites, focusing on the action of construction itself, placing the worker into the focal center, rather than the building. I provided testimonials for these men and paid tribute to their efforts which often remain unknown and obscured.

My work focuses on the human dimension of the city, rendering visible what is otherwise invisible.
It has been exhibited in solo and group shows in Asia and in Europe amongst which Photo Shanghai, Art Central HK, Art Stage Singapore, Shanghai Contemporary, Grand Prix Photo Saint Tropez and Atelier Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Back in Paris now, I am rediscovering my own European culture and working on new series.

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