Contemporary Society

Perhaps Hsu Yuan-fu already had strong feelings about capitalism and Taiwan's industrialization when he shot and named?Contemporary Society, choosing one of his distinctive low-angled shots and a distorted perspective to make a political statement.?What we first see is the sole of an outsized shoe, striding straight ahead, like a giant's foot, ignoring everything in its path, marching toward an unsuspecting world where the strong prey on the weak. As the line of vision travels upward, a topcoat with buttons, a man's features, and eyeglasses come into view; combined with the light on fingers of the half-clenched fist, they seem to produce a statue-like hardness in the face of an unknown future—it's as though industrialization is a giant, stomping into every aspect of people's lives. The work won a silver medal in Japan's Nippon Camera Photography Contest.