Tom's happy nightmare
By Enid Chen
Photos by Zheng Xiaodong

大学一毕业,汤姆就离开英国来到厦门.大学期间主修美术,但对摄影却有执著的热情.最近,他在第六晚咖啡馆举办了"快乐噩梦"摄影个展.通过这种无声的艺术,他跨越了语言障碍,与更多的人进行交流.同时,他也喜欢中国古典文学,比如<三国演义>和<红楼梦>.闲暇时,喜欢带上相机到处逛,因此拍了不少关于厦门的照片.他希望将来有一天能在英国举办一场中国摄影展.

How can a nightmare be happy? If you are keen on finding out the answer, why not drop in to Tom's Happy Nightmare photo exhibition in the Sixth Night Café. You may find a casual kick in the wordless but expressive photo show, which lasts until June 15.

As soon as he graduated from Central St. Martins University in London majoring in fine art, Tom Wilkinson came to Xiamen with his camera. He showed great interest in film making and photography and as a student, he made some films and took numerous photos.

In this Happy Nightmare photo exhibition, around 30 photos are on display, which were all taken during his university years. He hopes this exhibition will offer a window for communication. He said, "In many cases, communication is done through languages, but if you look at the art, language poses no barrier in communication between different cultures. I hold this exhibition in the hope that people here might be interested in it and I enjoy talking with people from different cultures."

Naturally revealing
Most of the photos show people in a natural state, either the bathers or a woman leaning against a window. "Most of them did not pose for the photos. Instead, I have been trying to get away from artificial things. Furthermore, I don't like to adopt technical and other special effects in my works, which would make it difficult for people to get to the subject. It would be difficult to relate to and would become quite cold if it was too technical."

During the interview, Tom kept hammering away at the fact that he only took photos of those he knew well. "I know them well so I can take the moments when they look most like themselves. Otherwise, I would find it difficult." That's one of the reasons that Tom hasn't taken many photos of people in Xiamen.

Details of single moments
Influenced by film making, for which he has shown keen interest, Tom's photos look just like single moments from a film. "In everyday life, looking is one of my greatest pleasures. Every single moment intrigues me and I would like to show that in my works." In one of the photos, only a pair of women's feet could be seen and in some others too. Tom said that's because he liked to use single parts to reflect the whole of the human body. "I like to take single parts of the human body, especially women's feet. It's more interesting because it can leave some space for imagination for the audience. Feet are as expressive as a face and sometimes can be more expressive and revealing. As far as I'm concerned, people think too much about faces."

Why is it a "Happy Nightmare"?
One of the photos on display shows a small shop with an eye-catching logo, which reads "happy nightmare". "It's a shop which sells beds. I like its name, although I have seldom met customers there. Therefore, I took it as the name of this exhibition." Tom said with a happy smile.

Living like a local
Before he came to China, Tom said he had only learnt a little about China from newspapers. Knowing that China is continually changing at a fast pace, he hoped that one day he could come to live in China and experience its culture. As soon as Tom graduated from university, he saw an advertisement for overseas teaching jobs offered by the British government. Tom applied for the job and made his way to China.

Having been in Xiamen for about nine months, Tom said he enjoys the peaceful life in Xiamen. Like many other foreigners here, he teaches English in a tourism school as his full-time job. In line with his expectations, Tom found the teaching job quite challenging. "As I'm not a very good public speaker, I find teaching 50 students in a class somewhat challenging. The students' English level also varies from one to another, which adds to the difficulty. Despite all this, I do my utmost and enjoy it."

In his spare time, Tom likes to go out for walks with his camera. Whenever his attention is caught by something intriguing, he will take it down on film. In particular, he likes the old buildings of various styles on Gulangyu.

Although photography has taken up much of his spare time, Tom also likes Chinese literature. He reads "Three Kingdoms" (San Guo Yan Yi) and "A Dream of Red Mansions" (Hong Lou Meng).
He loves films. Every Sunday afternoon, he brings some films to the Sixth Night Café and watches them with the others in the café. Most of the films are classic films from the 1920s.
In July, Tom will move to Shanghai. "I want to see different cities in China. I'm going to take more photos of it." Tom is hoping that he can hold a photo exhibition about China when he gets back to England one day.

My Xiamen

George and Rita were both born in musicians' families in The Philippines. This is the second time that they have performed in the Marco Polo Xiamen. The total number of songs that George and Rita can sing has reached over 1,000 pieces. However, they are still increasing their number of songs because learning new songs never ends.

1. How long have you been in Xiamen?
Actually we have been in Xiamen before. This is our second time working here, we arrived on April 10.

2. What do you like best about life here?
Xiamen people are always amiable. They have smiles on their faces all the time. We have made many friends in Xiamen and we have many friends from The Philippines in Xiamen, so Xiamen lets us feel at home.

3. What's your job here? How do you like your job?
We sing in the Marco Polo Xiamen. We love our job very much! It is a hotel with high standards. We meet people from all over the world. In here it's the fusion of national diversities.

4. If there was one thing that you could change about Xiamen, what would that be?
Well, life in Xiamen would be very easy if more people could speak English.

5. What's your favorite restaurant?
Aside from Marco Polo's restaurants, we love to eat in "Parkland" and "Venezzia".

6. What do you like best about Xiamen?
Wherever we go, people are friendly. The department store's service is very impressive. All of them are smiling and greeting patrons politely whether you buy things or not. They are all warm-hearted.

7. Compared with other big cities in China, what do you think are the differences between Xiamen and them?
We were in Shanghai for two years, we feel that the life in Xiamen is calm and quiet, and nightlife is not as popular as in Shanghai. Xiamen is developing rapidly; it has wonderful views; it's a city full of nature.

8. What's your favorite quotation or piece of advice?
"Don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time!"