The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Free Element XXIX

2001

DoDo Jin Ming

(Chinese, b. 1955)
China
gelatin silver print
Image: 36.9 x 48.6 cm (14 1/2 x 19 1/8 in.); Paper: 40.2 x 50.5 cm (15 13/16 x 19 7/8 in.); Matted: 55.9 x 66 cm (22 x 26 in.)
Gift of Friends of Photography 2003.11
Location: Not on view

Description

A concert violinist turned photographer, DoDo Jin Ming is attracted to nature, both native and cultivated, rendering it in viscerally appealing pictures. This photograph is from Free Element, a series of seascapes produced between 2001 and 2003 depicting the awesome power and drama of the sea.

The coasts of Maine and Nova Scotia, and the outskirts of Hong Kong have been her primary locales. She created these compelling black-and-white images by combining two negatives, one of the sea and the other of the sky. In each composition, all indications of land and humanity are eliminated, allowing Ming to concentrate on the sea and sky and their junction. Within these confines, she featured the conditions that make each negative unique, such as geographic location, atmosphere, light, and wind and wave patterns. Her camera angle seemingly places the viewer in a position to be submerged by a cascade of water.
  • ?–2003
    (Laurence Miller Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2003–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Drawn, Exposed and Impressed. MOCA Cleveland, OH (January 20-May 7, 2006).
  • {{cite web|title=Free Element XXIX|url=false|author=DoDo Jin Ming|year=2001|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.11