The United States has bumper stickers, blasts of individual crazy affixed to private property and driven around in democratic celebration of free speech — at least for those who can afford a car. In China we have hengfu signs, literally translated as "horizontal fabric." These are local government slogans typically printed in white or yellow on red banners 7-10 meters long and hung in residential areas. They’re more like the plaques in men’s rooms telling you that one small step closer to the urinal is one giant leap for civilization. You’re supposed to obey these things, not converse with them. When photographer Eric Leleu started printing his own hengfu, friends told him he would be imprisoned or deported. He’s since made and shot more than 50 of them, some in sensitive contexts, for a series he’s exhibiting at Art Labor from May 24. In 2009 Leleu began photographing official hengfu. “I felt like a foreign spy, reading messages that were not meant for me,” he says, which explains why he went out searching for signs only at night, from 11pm–4am, shooting them in the flash of his Leica, as if taking evidence. He made his favorite discovery in Baoshan: “RELY ON THE GOVERNMENT, FOLLOW ITS POLICIES AND SEEK TRUTH FROM THE FACTS”. It’s a piece of self-contradictory one hand clapping nonsense that epitomizes the masked menace that defines the form. Another sign, “TREASURE THE PRESENT, RETURN TO REASON,” sounded more mysterious to Leleu until the context revealed it for what it was: coercion for residents to accept payoffs to leave their homes so a site could be developed. Leleu tries not to replicate the same blunt paternalism in his own signs, adopting the laissez faire attitude you’d expect of a Frenchman with an MBA in economics. Hung behind tai chi practitioners doing their thing in Fuxing Park, “BE STRICT WITH YOURSELF AND INDULGENT WITH OTHERS” becomes a reminder to live and let live when sharing Shanghai’s scarce, crowded public spaces. These dogs dressed in football shirts are accompanied by a sign Leleu had printed that reads “SPARE NO EFFORT”. Although this is one of the series’ more comic works, it’s nevertheless politically charged, taking patriotic pro-productivity rhetoric and redirecting it towards personal expression. Leleu’s entire project is political, really, as the idea that people shouldn’t be told what to do is anathema to the party’s argument for self-perpetuation. Consequently, Leleu says the series wouldn’t have felt complete without a couple of overtly political images, and he got them. The largest sign Leleu created was a 20 meter monster he struggled to put up in the breeze. “The signs are essentially made of kite fabric,” he says. “In the north, where winds are stronger, the signs are usually perforated with holes to let the air through, but I had this one made in Shanghai.” He shot it on the Great Wall near Tianjin at sunrise, having snuck into the park at 4.30am. It reads, “WHEN THE WIND RISES, SOME BUILD WALLS, OTHERS WINDMILLS”. The riskiest shot Leleu took was this image of Chinese soldiers walking from their base camp near Shanghai Library to the US Embassy. It’s against the rules to photograph China’s military, something he found out first hand when he shot them up close and obvious with a medium format camera on a tripod. The commander immediately called a halt to his 20 troops and demanded the film, but the camera was empty. Leleu was just testing the waters. The following day he used the ruse of making out with his assistant to fake an ‘engagement’ photo in front of the banner, which reads “UNITY IS STRENGTH”, before covertly triggering the shutter as the guards approached. Leleu has shot hundreds of banners for “Subtitles”. For the exhibition, 24 of the best will be arranged in a 3x8 banner of A3 images running the length of the gallery, with several larger prints on the walls. Should be a good show. Maybe you’ll learn some new characters. Eric Leleu’s “Subtitles” opens at Art Labor 6-9pm on May 24 and continue through June 15.