ONE MORE!

This project is originally aimed for searching the meaning and purpose of bodybuilding for myself. I held the question “what is bodybuilding” from myself and trying to find my answer via the subject, a real bodybuilder. Through the photography process, I followed the bodybuilder, Michal Urban, as a medium to discover, to reveal, to dig the answer of my question. Bodybuilding is more like a spiritual strength discovering than a physical power representation. The muscles could not only represent the physiologically training results, but also means that we find the original and pure us beneath the skin. Through the physical training and a self-controled way of living, it builds our mind firmly and strongly. Importantly, the subject in the photographs is a normal person in London as others. That is the reason why it makes the story more attractive. In one hand, he lives in a disciplined life no matter in the gym or in his diet plans everyday. On the other hand, he is just like others working from 9 to 6 (actually his work hour is even longer). But it comes different when he eats and the training he has done. It not only takes time for years, but also the self-control and resistance he experienced. He surpasses himself as a human being. Personally, I do believe that bodybuilding will create meanings when using a different view to see it. For me, it somehow corresponds to the way of thinking in the Zen Buddhism and Taoism in Chinese culture. The circle of life and more practice on mind/the way of thinking are fit to the bodybuilding processes that all bodybuilders might have experienced. On the other hand, the bodybuilding is also matched the aesthetics in the Ancient Greece and the art pieces in the Renaissance. The bodybuilders now are in some way look back to the time and also create their own new way. Another purpose of this bodybuilding project was to reflect that most people in the society believes in formalism and utilitarianism. Normally, people focus more on the results than the process. We might see a successful person but ignore the things that he/she had been through. So as the most audience think about bodybuilding at the first time, much more focus on the competition as a result. The bodybuilding process remind us that we should see things detaily on the process but the result. The name "ONE MORE!" on the cover actually means the most hearing sounds in the gym. On the other hand, it also means that bodybuilding is a circle which has no actual start and end. Competition could be seen as an end, but it is just a beginning for bodybuilders.

The black framed photographs represents the "ONE MORE!" moment during the training and the pictures with white frames (they were without frames in the exhibition) are all the ordinary life pictures. They are surrounded by each others and are built connections to each others. For example, each one of the black frame pictures is surrounded by four white framed pictures. On the other side, the white framed photograph is also surrounded by four black pictures. For the bodybuilders, training become part of their life because bodybuilding processes are not only happens in the gym.

However, the sequences of black and white frames only represents my personal meaning of what is bodybuilding. I do think that there will be different meanings individually. So the book below is the one I made to describe what is the meaning of bodybuilding by using the quotes from the bodybuilder Michal Urban.

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