Ghost Witness, a photographic book by Mårten Lange

Ghost Witness is the latest project by the Swedish photographer Mårten Lange that represents the Chinese urban landscape and developing cities in a spectral and almost abstract way. We talked to him to know more about the series and his thought process when working on a photographic project.

Mårten Lange is a Swedish photographer working on a wide range of topics including nature, technology and the urban environment. After studying photography in Sweden, Japan and the United Kingdom he worked on several projects that are often published in well-curated books. His work has been shown internationally, most recently at Foam in Amsterdam, Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. 

In his latest series Ghost Witness, the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chongqing look nothing like what we have in mind in the common imaginary. We usually think of it as a bustling metropolis full of colours, noises, smells, while Mårten here twists the traditional view through a subtle aesthetic, transmitting almost a sense of calm and stillness. Time is frozen and what’s left is only a game of geometries, lights, transparencies and reflections linked by dense shades of grey and sparks of life.

The project has recently turned into a book published by the French-British publisher Loose Joints, an independent publishing house collaborating with leading and emerging artists on contemporary approaches to photography in book form.

The publication at first glance, for its size and choice of paper, looks almost like an old exercise book from the post-war era. But when you open it, it’s nothing like that. A sequence of black and white images in a harmonious balance with empty spaces on the pages creates a narrative that doesn't need words to tell the story. When you get to the end the feeling is a mix of calm and confusion.

We talked to Mårten to hear from him what was his approach to the project, both from the artistic and technical point of view.

Hi Mårten, in your latest project Ghost Witness, you represent the Chinese urban landscape in a surreal way, showing an atmosphere that, as the title suggests, is almost spectral. Why did you decide to take this approach and what was the message that you wanted to deliver with your series?

This approach came from encountering the very special light created by the heavy smog in these cities. It was the first time I saw this kind of light; heavy, unmoving, like a miasma. The atmosphere around sunrise and sunset was truly ghostly. Almost like being underwater. I was looking for a way to use this light in creating a story about these megacities and to tie it to thoughts about history and ideology I had. China is a country that has gone through extremely rapid change in recent decades. My thought was that when these cities are transformed so quickly, there will be ghosts of people and ideals left behind, haunting the streets.

Flipping through the pages of the book, you can notice a deep contrast between almost abstract-looking images and stark architectural representations as well as simple and common everyday life scenes. What is your purpose when juxtaposing this difference in scale and nature of your subjects?

I like to create momentum and rhythm through the photographic narrative by mixing close-ups with wider cityscapes, and abstract details with monumental skyscrapers. To keep the eye and mind zooming in and out. The images of China we mostly see in the west are of shiny business districts or giant residential prefab developments. I wanted to include something of another scale, to show the small cracks and misalignments that real life has.

Do you usually consciously start a project or you follow your instinct and once the images start composing a narrative you decide to explore the subject more consciously to create an intentional project?

I generally don’t know where the project is going from the outset. My plan when arriving in Shanghai was to photograph the huge deep seaport outside the city, but access proved too difficult. This led me to simply go for long walks in the city, photographing freely. After a while I saw patterns emerge, and started to see what I was drawn too. From there it becomes a matter of refining the vision and trying to attach ideas to pictures, and pictures to ideas. It’s a very organic process.

What technical challenges did you face working on Ghost Witness and how long did it take you to complete the series?

Not very many technical issues actually. With a modern DSLR it’s possible to shoot at night without a tripod. It’s really freeing. I walk a lot so using light equipment is important. I was shooting medium format film for many years and I’m so glad I don’t have to anymore.

I worked on this project for about two years. I spent three months as an artist in residency at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, and then one month travelling around the country. I had a lot of material, so processing and editing took a very long time.

How did you get access to some of the vantage points in the city? Is there preparation and a scouting process or you capture what you find on your way?

Before travelling to a city, I would spend a lot of time looking at maps, lists of the highest buildings and so on. On the first day I try to get up in one of these towers to get an overview. Many of them have public viewing decks. Often these views were disappointments due to weather or annoying reflections in the windows, but they always served their purpose as an introduction to the city. And many times I’d come back with images, not of the view, but some oddly shaped puddle of water on the street outside, or of a lone office worker in the building across.

What is your workflow when publishing a photographic book? Do you approach the publisher or it's the other way around? Do you collaborate in the publication process or it's the publisher leading in the creation of the book?

It’s always different. I’ve self-published a few titles and also been lucky to work with great publishers and designers. In the case of Ghost Witness, I was contacted by the publisher, Loose Joints, who were eager to know what I was working on. Making this book was a close collaboration with the publisher since the start. We sent sequences and layout ideas back and forth for months. They were extremely patient, going through over 20 edits together before the final cut.

“I wanted to include something of another scale, to show the small cracks and misalignments that real life has.”

In the book there are often generous empty spaces and fully white double spreads. What's the importance of a pause in a photo book and how do you use it for the narrative of your story? And talking about narrative, at a certain point of the book the human element starts appearing. What’s their role and purpose in the narrative of the project?

This book has a lot of photographs, 127 in total. Many spreads feature triptychs or quadriptychs. I wanted to offer some breathing space to not flood the viewer with images. There are no portraits in the book, but humans appear in the urban environment, seen from afar and often at work. I think it’s important to include people in the narrative. They help show the scale and function of the environment and underlines the almost surreal alienation of these places.

In conclusion, what are you working on next? Any hint on your future productions?

I’m doing a small project on Berlin in the time of the pandemic, looking at the empty spaces created by the economic downturn. I also want to explore nature again in some form.

All images are © Mårten Lange 2020 courtesy Loose Joints

Ghost Witness by Mårten Lange, published by Loose Joints