Sze Tsung Leong

Born in Mexico City in 1970, Sze Tsung Leong's powerful large-format photographs capture the feverish pace of urbanization in China's cities today. In the "History Series," begun in 2002, Leong isolates visual anomalies that are now commonplace in China: gleaming skyscrapers that stand at the end of crumbling alleyways and luxury high-rises that tower above stretches of neglected homes. The vast panoramas of the old city giving way to the new are made even more haunting by Leong's purposeful exclusion of people in almost all of his scenes, though he works in busy, developing areas. While there is a palpable sense of loss in his photographs, of history and of cultural identity, Leong's "History Series" is not wholly an elegy to China's past. Some images show old buildings that have remained untouched and traditions that continue uninterrupted–small but poignant victories for a country that stands to lose so much in the inevitable process of urbanization.