79
ITTAKESTWO
Seeing
double
dou le
H
owdocouples
declare their
mutual love in
public these
days?InBeijing,
sweetheartshave
traded in traditionaldisplaysof
affection foramore fashionablemode
ofexpression—matchingoutfits.
The trend—firstpopularized in
Korea—seemed tobeeverywhere
ErikNaumann lookedduringhis two-
monthstint in theChinesecapital.
TheMontreal-basedphotographer
was there to learnMandarinaspart
ofhisschoolprogram.Everydayafter
class,heandhis friendswandered
Forgetholdinghandsorpublicsmooching.Thesecouples
inBeijingprefer towear theirheartson their sleeves
with identical clothing
around thestreetsofXidan to take
photos. “Thecoupleclothingreally
caughtmyeyeandIstartedshooting
moreandmorecouples, and itgrew
into thisserieswhichI turned intoa
photomagazineproject forschool.”
Each timehespottedpeople in
identicalensembles,heranup to them
andmustereduphisbestMandarin to
utter, “I likeyourclothes!CanI take
yourphoto?”Almosteveryoneagreed,
buthehad toworkquickly. “Iwas
shootingwithaHasselblad500soIhad
tobeready to lightmetereveryshot
andchangefilmafterevery12photos,”
hesaid. “I love theresults from that
camera, though.”
Coming fromaculturewhere
individualism is thenorm,Naumann
found thesecouples“visually
arresting”.Save forHollywoodpairs
snappedbypaparazzi inmatching
threads, celebratingone’suniqueness
is theway togo in theWest. “It lets
youget todeeperquestionsabout
culture,humannatureandour
values,”hesaid. “Atfirstyou think it’s
something thatmakes theEastand
theWestdifferent.But thenI’llseean
oldercouple inmycountrywearing
matching tracksuitsand think ‘Aha!’,
it’ssomething thatweshare.”Tosee
moreofErikNaumann’swork, check
out
eriknaumann.com.
PHOTOSBY
ERIKNAUMANN
WORDSBY
MAYACALICACOLLINS
