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About the residency

In 2018 I was invited to spend some time the Linden Centre, in Xizhou. Xizhou is a beautiful village near the historical city of Dali, in China's Yunnan Province. They had seen my work on Yangon Time Machine and were interested to see what could be done with historical photographs of Dali and the surrounding area.

The Linden Centre occupies several beautifully restored national heritage sites. Besides being a really lovely hotel, the centre runs lectures and workshops on local history, and visits to historical and cultural sites. It is a truly unique experience, and I'm hugely grateful for the time I spent there.

Since I try to take updated photographs in exactly the same location as the original, this kind of project is unpredictable, with new buildings often blocking the original views. Fortunately several key photographs were replicable, and I was particuarly excited to be able to perfectly recreate a scenic view of Dali from a hillside temple. Sadly, some temporary restrictions on access to the city walls and central tower meant that some other great shots could not be repeated. One day I'd love to return to complete this unfinished business.

Below are three outputs from my time at the Linden Centre. First, there are the photographs themselves. Second, while I was there I spent a good deal of time in the Centre's gorgeous library, learning about the history of the area and region. I've distilled some of this impossibly rich history into an interactive timeline summarising the history of Dali and Yunnan, which I hope is useful to visitors like myself. Finally, I have written an article for my ongoing history project on the captial of Myanmar, Yangon Time Machine. This is one a series of special features focusing outside Yangon itself, and in this case examines the history of Yunnan's relationship with Myanmar.

Thanks for visiting, and thanks again to the wonderful Linden Centre. You can find my other work and projects here.