Pierre Bessard

Pierre Bessard: Wuhan Boiler Company Workers presents a new series by the French photographer. Continuing his engagement with China's industrial culture, Bessard fashions portraits of the oft-overlooked people behind the nation's tremendous economic growth. The series comprises hundreds of color photographs of factory works, as well the surroundings in which the laborers work.

In this collection of quietly stunning black-and-white photographic portraits by the noted French photojournalist Pierre Bessard, China reveals itself not as a faceless, hulking industrial machine, but as a place of collective efforts by individuals; if China is the world's factory, Bessard presents us with the world's workers. Here, we meet Liu Xiangping, a woman whose grace allows for a special sort of femininity even in a bleak, industrial setting, or Wang Wei, a 19-year-old worker who stays up late playing video games despite his three hour commute. In this volume, sensitive texts by Eric Meyer combine with Bessard's photographs to create a compelling portrait of the oft-overlooked people behind China's growth. This volume comes with a host of special features, from its linen-bound and be-ribboned slipcase to its tipped-on cover image and a lush, thick paper stock.