m97 Gallery is pleased to present “Empire: Impressions from China,” a solo exhibition by James Whitlow Delano of his profound black-and-white images of China taken between 1994 and 2004. This award-winning, Tokyo-based American photographer has one of the most significant bodies of work about China’s past 15 years by a foreign photographer. This vast body of work is catalogued in his book, Empire: Impressions of China, which won the 2005 Award of Excellence from Communication Arts. The exhibition begins on May 17th, 2008, and m97 Gallery will hold an opening reception on Saturday May 17th from 5pm to 7pm. On Saturday May 24th from 4pm to 5:30pm the artist will be giving a presentation/discussion about his photography work as well as a book signing on the Bund at The Glamour Bar in Shanghai.

James Whitlow Delano has photographed all across Asia, from Afghanistan to Burma, India and Indonesia. His textured black-and-white photographs have the impact of documentary photography while presenting the viewer with an epic sense of the human condition. “Immersing myself in a country means, for me, quietly wandering the backstreets of its cities, towns and villages. I find it is still possible to slip into a place or situation unnoticed – at least temporarily. Speed is everything. I must pass by quickly and quietly in order to capture the ‘out of the corner of my eye’ immediacy that I seek before I disturb the scene,” says Delano.

Tokyo-based Delano worked with Annie Leibovitz and Greg Gorman before going off on his own. Photographic assignments have taken him from the rainforests of Southeast Asia to the Silk Road, Africa and Europe, for Le Monde II, Time, Newsweek, and Vanity Fair, among other publications. Delano has received many awards, including the Alfred Eisenstaedt (Eisie) Award by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and presented by Life Magazine for work done in China, and the Grand Prize at the Banff Mountain Photography Competition and the National Geographic Society for “Jambeyang Holy Mountain, Tibet.” Delano’s “Empire: Impressions from China” body of photographs was the first one-person show of photography ever at the La Triennale di Milano Art Museum, Milano, Italy in 2005 and at Palazzo Battioro, in Venice, Italy in 2006.