
Laki Sideris, Beijing Bicycle, 2005 , courtesy the artist

Laki Sideris, Beijing Bicycle, 2005 , courtesy the artist

Laki Sideris, Beijing Bicycle, 2005 , courtesy the artist

Laki Sideris, Beijing Bicycle, 2005 , courtesy the artist

Laki Sideris, Beijing Bicycle, 2005 , courtesy the artist
Laki Sideris examines the paradox of private space in a public environment in Beijing Bicycle, a series of 30 images taken between 8 and 9am and 8 and 9pm in Beijing, China. The photographs are close up portraits of people riding bicycles through the streets of Beijing, with the bicycles cropped out of the frame. In Beijing, cyclists ride at a steady, though determined, slow pace. It is a time to be alone, to have thoughts, to be silent. The portraits are linked by common expressions—concentration, fatigue, even melancholia. These cyclists carry their personal, private space with them. Anyone sitting on a Beijing street corner is free to peer into this continuous and inexhaustible parade, a continually evolving face of China.
Located at this busy Collingwood intersection, Beijing Bicycle celebrates the street as a space for both public and private experience, as well as the universal and timeless pleasure of the bicycle.
About Laki Sideris
Melbourne-based photographer Laki Sideris has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions across Australia. In 2007 Laki won the Nikon Imagebank Award at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne and has been has been shortlisted and commended in several recent Australian awards including the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize (2007/2009), Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award (2007/2009), Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Foundation Photography Award (2007) and Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture (2004, 2005, 2008, 2009).
Supported by

Laki Sideris, Beijing Bicycle, 2005 , courtesy the artist
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