China Daily Life

Architecture, street life, pets, laundry lines, fishmongers, commuters, electronics, bikes, ads--this mass of hundreds upon hundreds of images of the people, places and things of the world's fastest-growing economy offers a culture through its surfaces, through the texture of daily life, organized typologically. Otten compares her work to a catalogue: "My book is just as temporary as an Ikea guide. It's about the time now; within a few years it will be outdated. In one month there can be three new owners in a shop. Complete areas are raised and cut down again." This is a mass of images about what things look like in fast-changing China, categorized by subjects like Shopping, Street Food, Hands and Feet, Prostitution, Gated Community and Hong Kong Jungle. It shows what stores look like, what teenagers wear, what you buy in the market, what kind of buildings there are. These are raw images of real life in China.