"At Ease" Author: [Italy] Lao An Publisher: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House

This is the first photography collection of Italian photographer Lao An in his 40 years in China.

190 photos, recording the "resting years" at the beginning of reform and opening up.

How ordinary Chinese people cautiously move towards a life in the true sense.

In these photos, we will witness our memories and also see our forgetfulness.

And rediscover a life that needs to be examined.

Recommended by Chen Danqing, Yu Hua, Liu Xiaodong, Gu Zheng, Peng Lei, Li Jing, Feng Mengbo, etc.

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This book contains more than 190 photos taken by Italian photographer Andrea Cavazzuti in China from 1981 to 1984, recording some daily life scenes of the Chinese people in that "rest era".

The China in the photo had just emerged from the turbulent years and had not yet had time to embrace tools such as fax, mobile phones and the Internet. It was a rare and brief moment of calm, as people took a breath and prepared to jump into the coming frenzy.

Lao An's photography focuses on the daily life of ordinary Chinese people. In the correct composition and limited frame, he captures endless details. They are not intended to report or explain, but to preserve the atmosphere of the next era. We will witness our own memories in these photos, see our forgetfulness, and rediscover the life that needs to be examined.

This book also includes commentary articles by Chen Danqing, Liu Xiaodong, and Gu Zheng, conversations between Lao An and Olivo Barbieri, Peng Lei, and Feng Mengbo, as well as Lao An's humorous prose work written in Chinese: "The Angry Little Dictionary."

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These photos are extremely precious, they are clean and meaningful, neither confirming nor denying, but putting oneself in others' shoes.

——Olivo Barbieri [Photographer]

Have you ever been in a daze? Suddenly remembering a scene from long ago, falling into a deep and long daze, without thoughts or emotions, just "seeing" your own memory? This moment is Lao An's photography. It is so moving. He successfully makes the viewer ignore and not notice how moving his photos are, just like the people in the photos don't notice him.

——Chen Danqing [painter, writer]

Lao An's photos are precious memories for our generation of Chinese. In these quiet or active black and white photos, we see how our past selves broke free from their shackles and carefully walked towards a life in the true sense.

——Yu Hua [writer]

Lao An never disturbs the scenery in front of him, never pushes the camera closer, and never shows his desires. Lao An always keeps a polite distance from the objects, rejects sentimentality, rejects complaints, rejects distinguishing right from wrong, and is like a person who has experienced it, without anger or ridicule...

——Liu Xiaodong [Painter]

The moment that Lao An inserts into reality with his camera may be a rather ambiguous moment, a moment that does not explain anything, but it is this moment that may extract and preserve the atmosphere of a certain moment in a certain era, and the viewer can confirm the era based on this.

——Gu Zheng [Photography Critic]

Lao An's photography is like a Chekhov-style drama: scattered and without a center. In an everyday space with little meaning, protagonists of roughly equal importance move weakly, doing nothing, and without any waves. But at the end of the play, all the rhythmic and seemingly familiar details suddenly undergo nuclear fusion, and suddenly form a poetic and strange symbol.

——Li Jing [writer]

Looking at Lao An’s photos, I get the feeling of traveling around China as a child. Every place was completely different... Such plain and ordinary photos look different now, more fashionable.

——Peng Lei [director, musician]

There is almost nothing that is not found in Lao An’s photos, and there is something worth seeing in them.

——Feng Mengbo [Artist]

Lao An, whose real name is Andrea Cavazzuti, is an Italian photo and video photographer who graduated from the Chinese Department of the University of Venice. He came to China for short-term studies in 1981 and studied at Fudan University the following year, thus forming an indissoluble bond with China. In the 1970s, he got involved in photography and then devoted himself to video images. He created a lot of works covering all aspects of art and society.

Lao An is deeply involved in the process of contemporary Chinese culture. He collaborated with drama directors such as Lin Zhaohua and Li Liuyi to use multimedia art to intervene in theater; he collaborated with Ning Ying, Guo Baochang, Peng Lei and others to shoot movies, and with Xu Xing and others to shoot documentaries. He also filmed the documentary "Kunellis in Beijing" when Kounellis came to China to hold an exhibition; he interviewed writers and artists such as Wang Xiaobo, Han Han, Sun Ganlu, and Wang Jianwei; he collaborated with Wu Man to record contemporary Chinese folk music with videos; he also created video installation works and participated in contemporary art exhibitions...

Between Italy and China, China and the world, between the past and the future, Lao An constantly asks questions and seeks answers through his unretouched photos and videos.