初看到曹迁这批印度人肖像作品时，就被这种端庄经典的肖像表达方式吸引了，“脸”代表了一个人或一个族群的生物遗传基因、自然气候的特殊性、文明传承的独特性、灵魂诉求的宗教性，都会在沧桑岁月的流逝中剩下痕迹，而人脸就是这些因素的总体表现。

曹迁从印度回来后，做为一个中国人的身份，向我述说了旅行期间的感同身受：脏乱无序的环境、原始的交通工具、素食社会的动物乐园、慢条斯里的生活节奏、五颜六色的色彩、背景是各种世界文化遗产与宗教圣地，最重要的是触目可及的乞丐、孤儿、苦修者、各种宗教信徒，时空交错般共居一处，让一个外国人产生了一种不真实的异样感：虽然物质层面的破烂不堪、人的内心生活却极度平静与纯洁，这种巨大的差异性，让一个生活在中国大陆的国人，初期的反应是茫然无措与无解，随着旅行的深入，心中会深思其背后的神奇缘故与智慧追求。

在这种强烈环境冲击下，让曹迁举起了手中的相机，以极为庄重的视角和方式拍摄着他沿途所遇到各种人物：流浪者、画家，警察、苦行僧、残疾人、吉普赛人、穆斯林、印度教徒等各种社会身份的面孔。在其后期制作过程中，加入大量的现成品物像，产生了极强烈的视觉冲击力。其中加入的泥土、石子、干瘪种子、扭曲的动物尸体等混合体，即丰富了摄影语言的张力，又增添几分形而上的死亡美学思考。

在一个资本狂流、信息泛滥、消费至上、人性不古、良知丧尽的快节奏生活方式洪流中，这些影像尤如一道黑漆夜空中的闪电，劈开了一幕惊心动魄的视觉场面，让我们窥视到热情洋溢、生动丰富、人性饱满的黑白盛宴：应该停下来，看看我们相邻种族的生活方式，才能真正感受到充满灵性的生活，对于我们生活在重商主义的儒家文化现实中的国人，最缺乏的是这些印度人眼神中充满着：敬拜有加、心无杂念、灵性十足、永恒如一。所以，曹迁称这批肖像意为表达“生者即为剩物也应具足神性！”的理念。也即物性与神性合一的人性。

    2018年5月15号 苍鑫

Sheng Xiang (Holy Images)

    I was deeply attracted by the India portraits the first time when I saw them, especially the way of expression. Time has always left its marks upon people’s faces. In some way, “human face” not only can represent biological genetic gene, but also can reflect the particularity of the natural climate and even the uniqueness of the inheritance of civilization and so on. 

  After Qian Cao came back from India, he told me about his feelings of his trip: the messy environment, the inconvenient transportation, the holy land with local beggars, orphans and ascetics, all those scenes are mixed together making him feel unreal and strange. The people there are very poor but inside of their hearts are extremely calm and pure. As a Chinese from Mainland China, Qian Cao was deeply shocked by the sharp contrast. But as time went on, he has more understandings of what he saw. 

   Driven by this strong feeling, Qian Cao recorded using his camera the people whoever he met during the trip, such as vagrants, painters, policemen, ascetic monks, disabled people, Gypsy, Muslim, and Hindus. Later on, he mixed the images with dirt, stones, seeds and animal bodies in the post production, and created the works with very strong visual impact. 

In a modern society, people chase after interests, enticements, powers, while ignoring moral standards. Qian Cao’s works deliver an important message, that is, the real life of a human being should be pure and innocent as we can see from the eyes of the India portraits. 

(15^th, May 2018.  Xin Cang)