The Lost Legacy series, 2021
by Liao Yi
“History” needs carriers to document the stories and memories that comprise it. The buildings pictured in this series are situated in important industrial areas of Vancouver and Inner Mongolia, China. With the continued development of these places, such industrial ruins will soon disappear.
In Vancouver, areas like the False Creek Flats and the neighbourhood around Parker Street retain factory buildings that carry with them more than eighty years of history. Some have been converted into warehouses and shelters, giving the buildings new life. I also took photographs of the industrial heritage in my hometown of Hohhot and the surrounding area. As the largest industrial zone in northern China, it still features many relics.
My artistic practice involves looking for and capturing these aging industrial sites as they are either abandoned or transitioned to new uses, in hopes of recording their last image – creating both a tragic and a romantic portrait. I attempt to capture the former power and grandeur of the structures and their current dilapidated state, producing an ironic contrast. My work further attempts to record the intangible relationship between these industrial relics and the city at large: Are these spaces forgotten or are they protected?
Industrial Heritages Series, Untitled (Mattress Factory, Vancouver), 2021
Industrial Heritages Series, Untitled (Mattress Factory, Vancouver), 2021
Industrial Heritages Series, Untitled (Coal Mine, Inner Mangolia), 2021.