Thomas Sauvin

Thomas Sauvin is a French photography collector and editor who lives in Beijing. Since 2006 he exclusively works as a consultant for the UK-based Archive of Modern Conflict, ^{[1] [2]} an independent archive and publisher, for whom he collects Chinese works, from contemporary photography to period publications to anonymous photography. Sauvin has had exhibitions of his work, and published through Archive of Modern Conflict.

Thomas Sauvin
Sauvin in 2024
Born	1983 (age 41–42) [3] Paris, France
Nationality	French
Known for	Photography collecting, vernacular photography, Beijing Silvermine
Notable work	Beijing Silvermine Until Death Do Us Part No More, No Less (with Kensuke Koike) Me TV (with Erik Kessels) Recycle (with Lei Lei)
Style	Vernacular photography, found photography
Awards	Shortlisted for Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation First Photobook Award (2013) for Silvermine Nominated for Deutsche Börse Photography Prize (2014) for Silvermine
Website	www.beijingsilvermine.com

Negatives for Sauvin's Beijing Silvermine project

Beijing Silvermine

Sauvin started the Beijing Silvermine project, accumulating more than 850,000 anonymous color negatives (as of December 2019) destined for destruction in a Beijing recycling zone. ^{[4] [5]} It covers a period of 20 years, from 1985, namely when photographic film (which contains microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals) started being used massively in China, to 2005, when digital photography started taking over. ^{[6] [7]} This period is the beginning of post-socialist China. ^[8]

Publications

Publications by Sauvin

• Thomas Sauvin: Silvermine. London: Archive of Modern Conflict, 2013. ISBN   978-0-9570490-1-7. Five albums each containing 20 prints. Edition of 200 copies.
• Amc2 Journal Issue 8: Quanshen. London: Archive of Modern Conflict, 2013. Photographs collected and edited by Sauvin.
• Silvermine albums. London: Archive of Modern Conflict, 2013. ISBN   978-0-9570490-1-7. Five albums each containing 20 prints. Edition of 200 copies.
• METV. Self-published, 2014. With Erik Kessels. ^[9]
• Until Death Do Us Part. Jiazazhi, 2015. First edition of 1000 copies; fourth edition of 2000 copies; third edition of 2000 copies; fourth edition of 2000 copies.
• Xian. Self-published, 2016. Handmade book, composed of fifty-nine paper boxes made of black folded paper, 90 facsimiles of vintage prints. Edition of 200 copies.
• No More No Less. With Koike. (M); Skinnerboox; Jiazazhi, 2018. Edition of 400 copies.
• Six. 2018. Set of 3 Softcover postcard booklets.
• MeNu. London: Archive of Modern Conflict; Galerie Ben Alors. Edited by Ruben Lundgren and Timothy Prus. Edition of 300 copies.
• Great Leaps Forward. Silvermine, 2019. ISBN   978-2-9570118-0-3. Edition of 750 copies. ^[4]
• 17 18 19. Athens: Void, 2019. Edition of 750 copies.

Publications with contributions by Sauvin

• Happy Tonite. London: Archive of Modern Conflict, 2010. Edited by Ed Jones and James Welch. ISBN   978-0-9547091-6-7. Edition of 1000 copies. Photographs selected by Ed Jones and James Welch from the collection of Chinese photography assembled by Sauvin. Includes the work of Liu YiQing, Cai Hongshuo, Chang He, Zeng Han, Yang Changhong, Bai Chuan, Dustin Shum, Chang Qing, Fang Er, Feng Li, Luo Dan and Jiang Yiming.
• The Chinese Photobook. New York: Aperture, 2015. Edited by Martin Parr and WassinkLundgren. ISBN   978-1-59711-228-4; Mid-Sized Edition, 2016, ISBN   978-1-59711-375-5. With texts by Gu Zheng, Raymond Lum, Ruben Lundgren, Stephanie H. Tung, and Gerry Badger. ^[10]

Exhibitions

• 2010: Dali International Photography Festival, China. ^[11]
• 2012: Open City Museum, Brixen, Austria ^[12]
• 2012: Singapore International Photography Festival, Singapore. ^[13]
• 2013: Format International Photography Festival, Derby, UK. ^{[1] [14] [15] [16]}

References

1. MacDonald, Kerri (1 March 2013). "Chinese Family Memories, Recycled". The New York Times . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
2. Archive of Modern Conflict
3. "Sauvin, Thomas". mocp.emuseum.com. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
4. "Memories from beyond: Long discarded photographs reveal a changing China" . The Independent. 12 December 2019. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07. Retrieved 2019-12-22.
5. Connors, Amy (20 October 2014). "Thomas Sauvin's Beijing Silvermine". The New Yorker . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
6. Branigan, Tania (4 January 2013). "Negative views: collection of camera film captures changing face of China". The Guardian . Beijing. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
7. "Rescued Chinese negatives - in pictures". The Guardian. 4 January 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
8. Branigan, Tania (4 January 2013). "Negative views: collection of camera film captures changing face of China". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-12-22– via www.theguardian.com.
9. O'Hagan, Sean (30 March 2014). "The world's weirdest photo albums". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-12-22– via www.theguardian.com.
10. O'Hagan, Sean (17 April 2015). "Fake bats, non-people and soccer tips from Chairman Mao: Martin Parr's side-on history of Chinese photography". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-12-22– via www.theguardian.com.
11. "Dali International Photography Festival", China Daily. Accessed 3 January 2015.
12. "The artists Giovanni Melillo Kostner, Thomas Sauvin and Lei Lei at 'Open City Museum'", Cuartel. Accessed 3 January 2015.
13. "Silvermine Archived 2012-10-05 at the Wayback Machine ", Singapore International Photography Festival. Accessed 3 January 2015.
14. "Thomas Sauvin", BBC World Service. Accessed 3 January 2015.
15. O'Hagan, Sean (10 March 2013). "Format international photography festival – review". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 2019-12-22– via www.theguardian.com.
16. O'Hagan, Sean (22 December 2013). "The best photography of 2013: Sean O'Hagan's choice". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-12-22– via www.theguardian.com.

• China portal

External links

• Beijing Silvermine
• Sauvin on Flickr
• Documentary about Sauvin and Silvermine (video)
• Amateur photos from China in the 1980s