Shanghai districts by Jean Philippe Gauvrit

Shanghai – Baoshan - Near Dachangzhen Airport

Shanghai Districts is a documentary project I completed between 2011 and 2016, covering 3 districts of the city, Minhang (2011-2013), Pudong (2013-2015), and Baoshan (2015-2016), where I observed the urban transformation and sprawl.


Shanghai – Baoshan Dachangzhen


Shanghai – Baoshan - Dachangzhen Middle Ring Highway

Minhang and Baoshan used to be the home places of traditional and heavy industries, which are still active, but are gradually pushed away by the urban modernization outside of the city, replaced by high-tech real estate areas or by residential dwellings. 


Pudong was originally a vast agricultural zone, hosting now the Shanghai Financial District near the Huangpu River, built right in front of the City Old Town to defy the past, the main International airport of the City and more recently Disneyland, as an ultimate symbol of the economic and social evolution.


Shanghai – Minhang – near Longwu Lu


Shanghai – Minhang – near Jindu Lu

I shot the Minhang and Baoshan series with black-and-white films, to better render the raw expressionist character of the places. 


I am a back-alley man, I feel comfortable in improbable and ugly places; over time I moved from a “classical” and structured documentary approach in Minhang, to a more improvised work in Baoshan, walking and shooting at random in the areas I selected, concentrating on traces, and weird or absurd pieces of life I could discover in the environment.
Text and pictures by Jean Philippe Gauvrit. Website www.jpgauvrit.net

A "back-alley man" sounds like a good strategy. We want to learn about and understand the world we live in and "looking for traces, and weird or absurd pieces of life" sounds completely sane to me. Great work and Merci beaucoup!
Mr Urbano



Comments

UIFPW08 said…
Nicea shots.
Morris