This project engages with how visual modes of communication interact, are shaped by, and help to shape what it means to be modern in a given cultural context. Moving away from definitions of modernity put forward by Modernism, this study uses Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of dialogue found in meaning-making processes to explore how Fredric Jameson's claim that modernity functions as a type of rhetorical trope is put into practice in the specific cultural context of Hangzhou, China. The fieldwork was carried out in three steps. Initial interviews led to the identification of key concepts. Photographs as key visual markers of modernity indicated in the initial interviews were a part of the field record. Lastly, a round of interviews that used the photos to further unpack the visual representations of modernity. This project also engages with the relationship between global and local forces within the cultural contexts found in Hangzhou. Building off the work of Arjun Appadurai, Homi Bhaba, and Yi-Fu Tuan, the role of the space, and the shared nature of constructing and reconstructing a culture are explored through the visuals accessed in conversations with participants in their spaces of living, work, and areas where they grew up in the city of Hanzhou.
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