Zhao Bandi: Pandaman

This book caught my attention as I was walking down the Photography isle in our university library (very rare sight). The cover was a close-up shot of Zhao Bandi holding his stuffed panda; 'I need to know about what's going on in this picture' I thought to myself and picked up the book. I discovered about this crazy talent named Zhao Bandi who is something of a celebrity in his native Beijing. His celebrity stature came from his inspiring photographs with his stuffed panda that is well known by public service information and government propaganda. Zhao created this Pandaman as a persona and his panda became a spokesperson in his photographs, allowing the artist to tackle difficult issues and deliver challenging messages with a twist of humour. They have conversations, delivered with deadpan humour, on subjects such as war, terrorism, the environment and disease. His work was presented in many galleries and exhibitions and his work was tailored to their specific context; incorporating billboards, exhibitions and performance to create different range of work in each venue. Around 2003 Zhao was bought to UK to exhibit his works and was published at Manchester, Birmingham, Portsmouth and in Piccadilly Circus Underground station is a combination of images from a number of series of works made between 1996 and 2003. It is part of the largest public exhibition of Bandi's work outside of China.

Life as a photographer...

Lately I have noticed that there's a sudden messiness in my life and many others can relate to me as well. I noticed this when I found a pizza crust under my pillow. Now pizza is a regular part of my food system and my belly is happy as well but that pizza crust wasn't my usual home cooked; it was a filled crust from Dominos and I digested that 4 days ago. This amused, surprised and disgusted me all at same time. I held that pizza crust and stared deep into it's cheese filling and started remembering how my life was a year ago. My mom worked as a private tutor, lecturer, headmaster and finally she's doing nursing; and my dad... well haven't seen much of him but he's a doctor. In addition, they're Asian parents and this pretty much summarises how strict and administered I was as a child. I remembered folding my own clothes after coming from school, making bed before going to school, doing my own dishes and having a constant good healthy diet. Only freedom and roughness I would enjoy was in school which reflected on my bad grades and probably torn clothings once every two months. Although I had strict parents and outlined lifestyle, I noticed that my parents slowly let me loose realizing I was heading towards photography and not sciencey stuff. And now that finally broke free from the nest and living on my own, I can see how much mess I can create. On the other hand, I also know where all my things are and will find almost anything at anytime by flicking through hundreds of papers and photos and pizza boxes. Anyway, not sure where I was going with this but if you feel same as me then smile. Now stop smiling coz someone is always watching you.