The Invisible Bicycle

Photographer Zhaohua Zen removes the bicycle from photographs and the subjects appear to float in the air, on their daily rides to and fro in Shanghai.

invisible biycle 1

Floating with a shopping list

They seem oblivious that they’re floating in air.

invisible bicycle 2

Floating with a passenger

Is it a statement about what we take for granted? Possibly or how the perfect machine moves us, in a cities dominated by cars. Maybe too what’s been lost in a consumer-driven, marketing culture.

While a world away from us in the States, Zhaohua Zen could shoot here and use his photographic skills to the same effect.

When I rode in Shanghai, these contrasts were always apparent. From the big bag of something being ridden to a high-rise construction site

construction

Hundred dollar bicycle outside a million dollar apartment building

or the bike parked outside it.

shanghai 2

What’s he doing with that big bag of X?

Note: iPad viewers, high-rez photos of Zen’s work were not available.

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