Living Yangtze by Eric Valli for Swarovski Waterschool

PUBLISHED September 12th, 2015 04:01 am | UPDATED June 12th, 2020 12:51 am

Home to 480 million people, the Yangtze River is the third largest river in the world and supports one-third of the Chinese population. Living Yangtze is a multimedia project narrating the stories of seven communities living along the great Yangtze as documented by Eric Valli, distinguished film director, photographer and author.

Eric was commissioned by Swarovski to spend six months documenting the lives of communities around the locations of its Waterschools along the Yangtze River. Featuring 96 photographs and seven short documentary films, the exhibition portrays the magnificent landscapes and dignified faces of the people Eric met on his way, and uses film as a positive medium to generate empathy and awareness about the importance of clean, sustainable water sources.

‘Living Yangtze started with a basic observation: as human beings we have a tendency to forget numbers, data and things we don’t like to hear about, but we remember what emotionally touches us – beauty, tenderness, passion, and harmony – for the rest of our lives. So instead of bombarding people with data and gloomy statistics, we decided to do the opposite. We wanted to make them aware of the beauty of their own heritage and traditions; to make them proud; to motivate them to act rather than discouraging them with guilt,’ said Eric Valli.

This exhibition runs from 10 to 27 Oct at the ArtScience Museum, from 10am to 7pm daily. Admission costs $5. For more information, check out the website [here](http://www.marinabaysands.com/museum/exhibitions-and-events/art-science-sustainability.html).