The Great Wall

‘Take Your Seat’ asks: Is it possible for a wall to connect us?

Take Your Seat is a global photographic movement that shares the human stories that connect us all to each other, our planet, and our best selves. In every photograph, their red and white director’s chair serves as a symbol of the power of choice. Do we choose to embrace each other? Can we see past our surface differences and recognize ourselves through the lens of a shared humanity? We are the directors of our lives. Currently on exhibit at The Peninsula Hotel gallery and property in Beijing, Take Your Seat now shares one of its feature stories from their recent Beijing series . . . 


Our chair’s global message of unity wrestles with a puzzling question as we pack our gear into the trunk of our car: Walls, both metaphorical and physical, are built to isolate us. Yet this wall, perhaps the greatest one of all, extends an invitation that openly draws us in.

The weather report calls for rain. As the sun confidently rises overhead, Yuri, our ever-optimistic guide and driver, gestures to the welcoming sky and says, ‘It is never right.’ Our journey to The Great Wall begins with an observation true for all of us; predicting the weather is just as accurate in Beijing as it is at home.

Sun defiantly shining, we begin our journey. Yuri glides along a silken ribbon of highway that whisks us to the Wall in two hours. Gripping the hillsides like a mother dragon intent on never letting go of her earthly child, the Wall twists and turns, rises and falls, setting a course for a modern-day expedition that follows a path set millennia ago.

The Great Wall is 8,000 kilometres long, and 2,000 years in its making. We have access to a lesser-known section that feels built for us alone. Our mission becomes as clear as the weather: We are about to photograph the Great Wall of China like it’s never been photographed before.

As we assemble our gear in a vacant parking lot, a jovial tour guide waves to us and then ambles over. He shows us a translation on his phone that claims our driver, ‘Walks you lost in circles and has no exercise’. We opt for Yuri anyway. He is smartly dressed in his navy blue suit and tie, likely a first for someone about to ascend 1,600 steps.

After considerable coaxing, Yuri reluctantly sheds his jacket, tie, and inhibitions. An unusual caravan of formally-attired guide, two photographers, and one red-and-white director’s chair begins its ascent. A rigorous but short climb later, we are gifted with an extraordinary vantage point. We are at the highest tower of this section of the Wall. Our unobstructed view extends over hills and valleys in both directions. We are on the back of the dragon! We feel her breathe. Living history is beneath our feet. The future, in all its cinematic splendour, is in our hands.

We prepare our cameras shielded from the sun by the tower’s massive stone walls and steeply pitched roof. An ancient coolness permeates the air. Out of place, but welcome nonetheless, a makeshift stand offers snacks and drinks. Jinfeng, its proud proprietor, sits on a chair of her own against a column watching our preparations. Her face is creased with lines equal to the lime-mortared blocks that frame her. Both have stories to tell. Yuri asks her if we could take her portrait. Her smile lights up the shadows cast by a determined sun.

The Great Wall

Our chair is placed halfway along a particularly enticing curve. Both Wall and chair beckon our camera to join them. We mount our camera on our tripod and extend it fully into the sky precariously above our heads to take full advantage of the angle and height. With a tremor of palpable excitement, we take a series of shots in rapid succession as if the dragon might fly away at any time. With childlike anticipation, we huddle around our camera display. There, surrounded by the past, enveloped by nature, the invitation from an unlikely pairing of Wall and chair greets us. Impossibly, we soar higher than even our place on the Wall.

The first feature shot of our Beijing expedition is a breathtaking success. Yuri buys a Snickers bar from Jinfeng to celebrate and ‘restore my energy’. We laugh together, a joyous laugh that bonds the three of us, our chair, the past and the present, the West with the East to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There is no more question to consider: A wall has indeed connected us.


Take Your Seat is led by Randy and Spencer VanDerStarren. Together, this father-and-son team has given a chair a voice; one that speaks a universal language of unity, responsibility, and individual power that is being shared with audiences around the world.

For more Take Your Seat stories and photographs from Beijing and the world, visit www.TakeYourSeat.art. You can follow their chair’s next adventures on Instagram and on Substack.