Other sizes available upon request and subject to availability.

In 1979, Eve Arnold became one of the first Western photographers to enter China at the age of 67. Taking extended trips over five months, she had almost unlimited access to travel across the mainland, and covered 40,000 miles. With an interpreter as her sole companion, she meticulously documented China’s vast and various landscape and the experiences of its people, resulting in a diverse and beautiful photographic portrait of the country.

About the work - Horse Training for the Militia:

In 1979, Eve travelled to a remote livestock commune in Inner Mongolia — a place where traditions held strong, and where the next generation was being raised to ride, to work, and to defend.

Her photograph — Horse training for the militia. Inner Mongolia. 1979. — shows a young woman lying across her horse, motionless. She had trained the animal to stay perfectly still, so that she could shoot from its back.

There is a look of fierce concentration on her face — composed, focused, at ease with the task. It mirrors Eve’s own presence behind the lens.

Quiet. Observing. Completely still.

In In China, Eve wrote:

“As soon as a child is old enough to sit on a horse he is taught to ride, and as soon as he is able to hold a rifle he is taught to shoot.”

And: “When one sees the beautiful white horses they train to lie still so they can shoot over them, it all seems a romantic fairytale from another age, yet…

The symbolic training can be seen as a method to teach discipline and resolve from infancy…

Within the group morale is high because its members function as a unit.”

Eve didn’t come to impose her worldview.

She came to understand.

To look deeply, attentively, and with respect.