Prior to the opening of James Warfield’s photographic exhibition at the Deke Erh Art Center in Shanghai in January, the UI architecture professor exchanged several rounds of e-mail messages with two women who had been assigned the task of translating English captions into Chinese characters. The suggested translations didn’t always make sense at first. But Warfield wasn’t overly concerned. Because, in the end, he knew any language barriers would vaporize. The pictures – with their universal, humanistic appeal – could speak for themselves. That dialogue with viewers continues as “Inalterable Dreams: The People and Architecture of China’s Folk Environments” moves to I space, the UI’s Chicago art gallery, on Feb. 7. The exhibition documents 15 years of field research, begun in 1988, on what Warfield calls “living and working environments of vernacular communities.”
“When I use the term ‘vernacular,’ people always ask me what that means,” said Warfield, who added that terms such as “folk” or even “non-pedigreed” architecture may provide a more accessible, less scholarly definition for some. In essence, he said, “it’s the architecture of the people. The vernacular worldwide has certain design principles it follows. It’s very site conscious, and it tends to use local materials – what we call ‘sustainable’ today.”
Before Warfield focused his lens on the vernacular architecture of China, he studied indigenous and vernacular living environments in Mexico, Bolivia and Peru. “I have directed my research efforts whenever possible to regions of the world where clear and dramatic examples of folk architecture still remain, seeking built work of architectural clarity, historic significance and cultural worth.” The subjects of the photographs in “Inalterable Dreams” include farming, communal and island villages, water and market towns, and the people who populate those areas.
“The photos are provocative visuals,” Warfield said. “They present graphic textural detail intended to engage both the Chinese and Western viewer visually and intellectually with images of unique ways of life.” And while Warfield said the exhibition is intended largely for “an audience of critical scholars and informed students of environmental design,” he believes the sheer humanity of the images appeals to a broader public as well.
In addition to documenting Warfield’s research interests, “Inalterable Dreams” was organized in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Tongji University/ UI Summer Program in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning. Warfield directed the first summer program in 1988 and has helped coordinate it ever since. Each year the five-week summer program sends 15 to 20 undergraduate and graduate students – most of them from the university’s School of Architecture and departments of landscape architecture and of urban and regional planning – to China. Students first spend a week in Beijing, and visit a major historical architectural sites including the Great Wall of
China, the Forbidden City, Buddhist temples in the mountains near Wu Tai Shan, and the walled city at Pingyau, a world heritage site. Next, they travel to Shanghai’s Tongji University, where they receive instruction in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, painting, philosophy and even feng shui. They also take field trips to the countryside twice a week. Warfield’s images of rural villagers and their architecture were captured on film during these excursions. Over the years, he estimates that he has gleaned some 200,000 slides from his efforts. “This exhibition is a test exhibition,” said Warfield, who plans to mount a more ambitious show next year featuring “fundamental design principles as demonstrated in vernacular architecture principles worldwide.” “Inalterable Dreams” will be on view at I space through March 8. It travels to Urbana in April, and later will return to China, where it will be on view at Tongji University.
