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The main hall space of Three Shadows Photography Art Centre. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com/William Wang]

A lot of progress has been made by Three Shadows since it opened in 2007. Who would have guessed that from such humble beginnings, this art centre would be exhibiting photographs taken by Che Guevara himself? This coming September Three Shadows will proudly exhibit over 200 photos taken with the revolutionary's Kodak camera.

Three Shadows has a mission to promote photographic arts in Beijing, well aware that in China photography is an art which has gained acceptance slower than traditional art forms. Weidong shrugged when he noted that many art institutions today still don't accept photography as high art.

"Many people in China are interested in art," stated Weidong, "but they can't paint, they can't make sculptures, they can't do printmaking. But maybe they think [using] a camera is easy... Anybody can use a camera. You can buy a Leica or a Hasselblad but [these expensive cameras] can't make you into an artist."

For photography to be accepted as "art," it must first be executed to a high standard. But how does one define this high standard? "The important thing in photography is not the camera. It's not technical," he clarified. "[It's] in your eye, in your vision."

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