Thomas Sauvin is a French photography collector and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

who lives in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Since 2006 he exclusively works as a consultant for the UK-based

Archive of Modern Conflict Archive of Modern Conflict (AMC) is an organisation and independent publisher based in Holland Park, London, England. AMC was established in the early 1990s and maintains an archive of vernacular material relating to the history of war, primarily ...

, an independent archive and publisher, for whom he collects Chinese works, from contemporary photography to period publications to anonymous photography. Sauvin has had exhibitions of his work, and published through Archive of Modern Conflict.

Beijing Silvermine

Sauvin started the Beijing Silvermine project, accumulating more than 850,000 anonymous color negatives (as of December 2019) destined for destruction in a Beijing recycling zone. It covers a period of 20 years, from 1985, namely when

photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the ...

(which contains microscopically small light-sensitive

silver halide A silver halide (or silver salt) is one of the chemical compounds that can form between the Chemical element, element silver (Ag) and one of the halogens. In particular, bromine (Br), chlorine (Cl), iodine (I) and fluorine (F) may each combine wit ...

crystals) started being used massively in China, to 2005, when

digital photography Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The digitized image is ...

started taking over. This period is the beginning of post-socialist China.

Publications

Publications by Sauvin

*''Thomas Sauvin: Silvermine.'' London: Archive of Modern Conflict, 2013. . Five albums each containing 20 prints. Edition of 200 copies. *''Amc2 Journal Issue 8: Quanshen.'' London: Archive of Modern Conflict, 2013. Photographs collected and edited by Sauvin. *''Silvermine albums.'' London: Archive of Modern Conflict, 2013. . Five albums each containing 20 prints. Edition of 200 copies. *''METV.'' Self-published, 2014. With

Erik Kessels Erik Kessels (1966) is a Dutch artist, designer and curator with a particular interest in photography, and co-founder of KesselsKramer, an advertising agency in Amsterdam. Kessels and Johan Kramer established the "legendary and unorthodox" Kessels ...

. *''Until Death Do Us Part.'' Jiazazhi, 2015. First edition of 1000 copies; fourth edition of 2000 copies; third edition of 2000 copies; fourth edition of 2000 copies. *''Xian.'' Self-published, 2016. Handmade book, composed of fifty-nine paper boxes made of black folded paper, 90 facsimiles of vintage prints. Edition of 200 copies. *''No More No Less.'' With Koike. (M); Skinnerboox; Jiazazhi, 2018. Edition of 400 copies. *''Six.'' 2018. Set of 3 Softcover postcard booklets. *''MeNu.'' London: Archive of Modern Conflict; Galerie Ben Alors. Edited by Ruben Lundgren and Timothy Prus. Edition of 300 copies. *''Great Leaps Forward.'' Silvermine, 2019. . Edition of 750 copies. *''17 18 19.'' Athens: Void, 2019. Edition of 750 copies.

Publications with contributions by Sauvin

*''Happy Tonite.'' London: Archive of Modern Conflict, 2010. Edited by Ed Jones and James Welch. . Edition of 1000 copies. Photographs selected by Ed Jones and James Welch from the collection of Chinese photography assembled by Sauvin. Includes the work of Liu YiQing, Cai Hongshuo, Chang He, Zeng Han, Yang Changhong, Bai Chuan, Dustin Shum, Chang Qing, Fang Er, Feng Li, Luo Dan and Jiang Yiming. *''The Chinese Photobook.'' New York:

Aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

, 2015. Edited by

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

and

WassinkLundgren Thijs groot Wassink (born 1981) and Ruben Lundgren (born 1983) are two Dutch photographers who work together as WassinkLundgren. Their photography and film projects shift mundane, often unnoticeable, everyday occurrences into visually compelling ...

. ; Mid-Sized Edition, 2016, . With texts by Gu Zheng, Raymond Lum, Ruben Lundgren, Stephanie H. Tung, and

Gerry Badger Gerald David "Gerry" Badger (born 1946) is an English writer and curator of photography, and a photographer. In 2018, he received the J Dudley Johnston Award from the Royal Photographic Society. Life and career Badger was born in 1946 in North ...

Exhibitions

*2010: Dali International Photography Festival, China. *2012: Open City Museum, Brixen, Austria *2012:

Singapore International Photography Festival The Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF) is a non-profit biennial festival organised by Singapore-based independent art space, DECK. Its first edition, held in October 2008, was the first event of its kind in Southeast Asia, with i ...

, Singapore. *2013:

Format International Photography Festival Format International Photography Festival (stylised as FORMAT) is a biennial photography festival held in Derby, UK that. It was established in 2004 and takes place in March in various venues in Derby including Quad, University of Derby, Derby Mus ...

, Derby, UK.

References

External links

Beijing Silvermine

Sauvin on Flickr

Documentary about Sauvin and Silvermine
(video)
Amateur photos from China in the 1980s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauvin, Thomas Living people French collectors French expatriates in China Photography curators Year of birth missing (living people)