WINNER 2008 CHINA EXPERIENCE CONTEST: 1ST PLACE


PRESS RELEASE
NOV. 13, 2008.

John F Rash was announced today as the 1st Place winner in the China Experience Photo Contest held by the North Carolina State University Confucius Institute. The photo "Hao Hai Zi" was taken in May, 2008 when Rash was visiting a school for migrant children in the city of Beijing, China.

The children seen in the photo are not provided free public education as migrants to the city. Hao Hai Zi Kindergarten is a small school which offers an affordable education to the children of migrant workers. Hao Hai Zi offers classes in History, Math, English, and Music, as well as hot daily meals for less than the equlivalent of US$4 eash month. John spent a day at Hao Hai Zi photographing the children, observing their routine, and talking with the owner and principal who built the school in 2006.

John F Rash hopes to return to Beijing in 2009 to spend more time documenting migrant children and women who are facing the challenge of intregrating into the quickly developing cities of China.

John F Rash also received merit awards in the photo competition for two other photos taken during his visits to China in 2008 and 2006. All three images will be on display at the NC State D.H.Hill Library in November to help celebrate International Education Week.
------

John Rash

John Rash is a filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist based in Oxford, Mississippi. John earned his M.F.A. in Documentary and Experimental Art from Duke University and B.F.A. in Art Education from UNC-Greensboro, and now works as Assistant Professor of Film Production and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. His documentary films and photographs often focus on topics of identity, counter-culture communities, social justice, and environment and have been shown in festivals and museums around the world. John has received multiple awards for his documentary works including the Soul of Southern Film Award from Indie Memphis Film Festival for Negro Terror, History+ Best Documentary Award from the North Carolina Museum of History for Our Movement Starts Here, and an Emmy nomination for his film about South Carolina-based photographer Sam Wang. John is also the founder of the Southern Punk Archive which aims to preserve the stories of DIY punk communities in the American South. In 2025, John was an Artist in Residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai and a resident artist at Crosstown Arts in Memphis, TN in 2022.

https://www.johnrash.com
Previous
Previous

Snow Chevy

Next
Next

Obama 08