The Middle Kingdom Ride
Friday, April 15th, 2011
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, April 15, 2011 | 6:30PM - 9:30PM | External Event, Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue (at St. George, south of Bloor W) |
Series
Asian Heritage Month Event
Description
6:30-8:30 Opening remarks by Senator Vivienne Poy (Chancellor Emerita, University of Toronto); Lecture by Ryan Pyle (Award winning documentary photographer based in Beijing) and Q&A
8:30-9:30 Informal reception
Ryan Pyle is an award winning documentary photographer who has spent the last ten years of his life visually documenting life in China for the world’s leading magazines and newspapers. While living in Shanghai, and documenting China has proved an amazing experience for Ryan, there was always a need for a bigger adventure. So when Ryan’s brother, Colin, recently quit his “Bay Street” job, and sold his house, the two brothers decided that something truly epic needed to be attempted. Together these brothers from Toronto decided that they were going to circumnavigate China on their BMW F800GS motorcycles. And that’s exactly what they set out to do.
On October 17th 2010, Colin and Ryan safely returned to Shanghai, on what was the first complete circumnavigation of China by motorcycle ever completed. The journey took the brothers 18,000km in just 65 days and exposed them to: dangerous flooding along the border of China and North Korea, military interference along the border of China and Mongolia, and sub-freezing temperatures and a hail storm at 5200m above sea level on the border of China and Pakistan. Not to mention the altitude sickness and mechanical failure that added to their adventure on the high plateau in rural Tibet. This was a journey and an adventure without precedent. During their entire odyssey around China, Colin and Ryan filmed daily using motorcycle mounted cameras, helmet mounted cameras and an HD Camera operated by a camera man who followed them; so that they could capture their once-in-a-lifetime experience on film. Colin and Ryan have named their project: “The Middle Kingdom Ride” and are currently in the process of publishing a book about their adventures as well as a documentary film. For more information you can visit: www.mkride.com.
We, at the Asian Institute, are pleased to announce that on April 15th Ryan Pyle, a University of Toronto graduate and AI Affiliate Member, will join us to discuss his photography career, his motorcycle expedition, and the challenges of film making in “The Middle Kingdom”. Samples of his photography and video clips from his motorcycle film will be included in his lecture. Ryan rarely makes it back to Toronto and we are excited about this opportunity to share his work and experiences with a wider audience.
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