The New Yorker recently handed over their Instagram account to Beijing based photographer Thomas Sauvin and his massive archive of found 35mm film negatives, titled Beijing Silvermine.

The project first took shape in 2009, when Thomas unearthed a massive stockpile of film negatives at a recycling plant near Beijing. He has apparently sifted through more than half a million images photographed by people from 1985 to the early 2000s, that depict everyday life in an eerie fashion, filled with double exposures, and film degradation. 

In January of this year he exhibited this series at the 4A Center For Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney, featuring a collaboration with Beijing based animator Lei Lei, which can be viewed here. 

Continue on to The New Yorker Instagram if you have a VPN and want to get a better look at these amazing images from an era of China not often experienced. Also, stay tuned for more exhibitions in the Beijing area to feature this surreal collection. 

Photos: Thomas Sauvin