Musician, fighter or good luck charm, crickets have held an important place in Chinese tradition for over a millennium. For Photo Esplanade, Laurence Kubski sheds light on this passion that still enflames the Chinese Empire today. Crickets are prized for their strident song, but also for fighting. Sometimes traded for thousands of yuan, the precious insects compete in the arena to the public’s delight, who, despite the ban, sometimes gamble discreetly on a champion.

In Crickets, the photographer from Fribourg explores the corn fields of Shandong or the vast animal markets of the big cities. Meeting insect hunters, traders and collectors, Laurence Kubski delivers a series of finely composed images in which she probes the relationship of the Chinese with this emblematic animal.

Curator of the exhibition
Filipe Dos Santos