German architect/photographer’s visual works turn his adopted city into land of fantasy
ByALYWINCHEW
[email protected]I
n early May, Shanghai was
transformed into a frozen
landscape. The Huangpu
River was frozen over, the
buildings caked in snow
and a towering wall of ice could be
seen rising above the ground in the
Lujiazui financial area.
A man with a long sword ambled
toward the edge of a cliff located
across the river in Puxi. As he sur-
veyed the desolate landscape, three
dragons emerged from behind the
Shanghai Tower, their screeches
reverberating through the city.
This was, of course, just a fantasy,
GameofThrones -inspiredworldthat
existed only in an image created by
rising Instagram star Mark Siege-
mund. The 34-year-old German,
who has been living and working in
Shanghai since 2012, has also caught
the attention of Chinese netizens in
recent months. His works have been
shared onChinese socialnetworking
platforms, with many people prais-
ing his creative renditions of the city.
In his other works, Shanghai is
transformed into Gotham City, the
fictional place where the comic char-
acter Batman resides. Sun Wukong,
also known as the Monkey King, can
be found standing atop a temple.
“My photography is not just about
showing reality. It’s about art. It’s
about showing a fantasy world. It’s
about an escape from reality,” said
Siegemund, the design director at
Ete Lee andAssociated Urban Archi-
tects, in Shanghai.
“For me, a photo truly becomes a
work of art when I do the editing.
Everyone can take photos. Some can
takegoodphotos.Butitistheediting
process that helps you to stand out
from others because it allows you to
input your personal voice.”
Despitehistalentforphotography,
the German insists that he is still
very much an architect at heart.
Born in Leipzig, Siegemund said
he has been fascinated by architec-
ture since he was a child. The fact
that his father was an engineer who
would gladly entertain his questions
about how buildings worked also
flamed his interest in the field. Such
was his interest that Siegemund
would secretly draw blueprints for
planes and buildings during les-
sons. He also frequently followed his
father to construction sites.
“I was in awe every time I entered
a building. I would be examining all
the details of the space. I just could
not understand why others did not
feel the same way,” he said. “I knew
that I wanted to study architecture
when I was 16.”
Siegemund first arrived in Shang-
hai in 2011 when he was an architec-
ture student at the Bauhaus Univer-sity Weimar. During his time in the
city, he participated in an exchange
program with the China Academy
of Art which also included a short
stint with an architecture firm called
Spark.
He still vividly remembers how
amazed he was at the city when he
first laid eyes on it, saying that the
reality was nothing like what he
expected.
“I was surprised that the city was
so modern. My impression of China
before I came was that it was this
‘romanticized’ land that was filledwith rickshaws and traditional Chi-
nese things. Many people in Germa-
ny still think that China is like that
today,” he laughed.
“In Germany, there’s more uni-
formity in the style of the buildings
located along the same street.
“Here in Shanghai, the landscape
is just so dense, and the buildings
differ so much from one another.
Things are a little messy but it is also
this mess that makes the scene so
vibrant. There’s a charm to this orga-
nized chaos.”
Captivated by the vibrant natureof the city, he returned to Shanghai
in 2012 after graduating, starting his
career at an architecture firm that
allowedhim to travel around China
to places like Dalian in Liaoning
province, Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang
autonomous region, and Haikou in
Hainan province. Back then, pho-
tographywasjustameansofhelping
him to document the unique archi-
tecture of Shanghai.
It wasn’t until three years ago that
hestartedanInstagram accountand
took his photography to another lev-
el by adding a touch of flair throughediting software. Slowly but surely,
his works won him a legion of fans
on Instagram — he currently has
about 45,000 followers.
His photos also caught the eye of
designfirmsthatlatercommissioned
him to do interior and architecture
photography.Evenmajorlabelssuch
as luxury fashion house Burberry
have hired him to shoot a brand
campaign. One of the memorable
assignments he has undertaken was
documenting a new car transport
vessel that was berthed in Shanghai.
When asked to name one of his
favorite photos of Shanghai, Siege-
mund singled out the image that fea-
tures a section of the Yan’an Elevated
Road.Shotatnight,theimagedepicts
a series of roads crisscrossing one
another, with skyscrapers set against
the backdrop of an illuminated sky.
The urban legend behind this sec-
tion of the Yan’an Elevated Road, he
explained, was what compelled him
to shoot the photo.
According to the urban legend,
engineers once faced a problem
installing a new concrete pil-
lar along the expressway because
they could not drill to the required
depth. A monk who was invited to
perform religious rites at the loca-
tion said that the drilling attempts
were unsuccessful because the site
waswherethecity’sguardiandragon
rested. He then told the construc-
tion company that the pillar must be
adorned with nine dragons before it
could be installed.
The engineers were able to install
the required pillars in the location
after following the monk’s instruc-
tions. When the monk died a few
dayslater,manypeopleattributedthe
cause of death to him revealing the
secret location of the dragon’s abode.
“Ihopethatmyphotoscanstirpeo-
ple’s imagination,” Siegemund said.
“I want my photos to be those
where people can stop and wonder.
I think my best pictures have this
quality.”Shanghaiinaparalleluniverse
Clockwisefromtop: Mark Siegemund’s photos:Lights Onshows buildings in Lujiazui during the
National Day holiday;One Thousand and One Nights, an image of the Shanghai World Financial
Center seen from above the clouds;Center Piece, Huxinting Teahouse at Yuyuan Garden in autumn.
PHOTOSPROVIDEDTOCHINADAILYMarkSiegemund,
architect and photographer.CHINA DAILY GLOBAL WEEKLY August 9-15, 2019 31