Yann Layma

Yann Layma is a French photographer who spent twenty years traveling throughout China and recording the overwhelming changes that have taken place in this country since reforms began in the 1980s. His photographs capture customs and daily life in rural areas of China that have since been lost.

China

The private mansion of a cement magnate located between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Guangdong Province

1995

The Great Wall at Jinshanling, Hebei Province

2000

Hua Mountain, Shaanxi Province

2000

A railroad yard in Sujiatun, Liaoning Province

1988

East Lake in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province

1996

The rice paddies of Yuanyang, Yunnan Province

1993

A power station near Baotou, Inner Mongolia

1985

A Buddhist school in Ganzi, Sichuan Province

2000

Confucian scholars participating in a ceremony in Qufu, Shandong Province

1994

A Dong child, Guizhou Province

1990

Terraced rice paddies in Yuanyang, Yunnan Province

1993

A Hani village, Yunnan Province

1993

Yi villagers working near Yuanyang, Yunnan Province

1993

A roast pig for the New Year in Baxie, Guangxi Province

1989

A girl at the beach in Qingdao, Shandong Province

1987

The first paid vacations at the beach in Qingdao, Shandong Province

1987

Chinese tourists at the seaside resort of Beidaihe, Hebei Province

1987

Two elderly women in Chengdu, Sichuan Province

1987

A junk near Pingtan Island, Fujian Province

1996

The Beijing Train Station

1985

Medium: C-print
Dimensions: (1) 80 × 120 cm (2) 60 × 80 cm
Edition: (1) 25 (2) 25

Artist's Bio

Yann Layma (b. 1962, Lannion, France)

Solo Exhibitions:
1994 "Mountain Sculptors," Visa pour l'Image, Perpignan, France
2004 "100 Portraits of the Dragon," Luxembourg Gardens, Paris, France
2007 "Twenty Years of Photographing China," Inter Art Center / Gallery, Beijing, China
2009 "Twenty Years of Photographing China," Lishui International Photography Festival, Lishui, China
2010 "Universal Shanghai," Maison de la Chine, Paris, France
2011 "Butterfly," Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China
2012 "Sculptors of the Mountains," Xishuangbanna International Photography Festival, Xishaungbanna, China
2014 "Sculptors of the Mountains," Yuanyang International Photography Festival, Yuanyang, China
2014 "Sea Songs: The Dong People," PhotoChina Original International Photographic Exhibition, Guiyang and Liupanshui, China

Group Exhibitions:
1987 Biennale of Photography, Turin, Italy
1988 FotoFest Biennale, Houston, USA
1988 Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France
2004 "The Forbidden City International Photography Exhibition," Palace Museum, Beijing, China

Publications and Awards:
2003 Published China
2006 Received the Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite from President Jacques Chirac
2009 Published Paris
2011 China Right Here named Yann Layma one of the Cultural Ambassadors of a Beautiful China