What/How/Why

Project 1

Original Version

This description is about a photo of a series called The Remaining , I took this photo in my friend’s house. The photograph shows a friend of mine who has just gone through a divorce and her daughter sitting beside the dinning table. That was the day when her husband visited the little girl, so you can see there’s a little bit anxious on the mother’s face, while the girl was waiting with her, and the little girl’s eyes a little at a loss. If you can see clearly, the fruits on the table is actually fake plastic models and the dinning table was placed close the corner which only leave a space for 2 people to eat.

Before I took this photo, I choose to live with my friend for a short period, so that they can gradually get used to the existence of my camera. When I take this photo, I didn’t try to look for a perfect composition, I put the camera on my tripod and turned off the shutter and focus sound. I pressed the shutter when I feel extremely upset with the long silence of that moment , and turned off the camera immediately .

The inspiration came from a photo box of my grandfather. After his death, I found this box with all his photos from his childhood to his 70s. After seeing all the photos, I realised that I only experienced a very short time with him, and those photos of him as a young man were uncertain and unreal for me. So I started to think the issue of "authenticity in photographic works" and started this project. I try to participate a event with my close friends and recorded their real living state. Those photos are real and vivid for me, but they’re just like movie stills for the audience.

Edit Version

This description is about a photo (This is a colour digital photo) of a series called The Remaining , I took this photo in my friend’s house. The photograph shows a friend of mine who has just gone through a divorce and her daughter sitting beside the dinning table. That was the day when her husband visited the little girl, so you can see there’s a little bit anxious on the mother’s face, while the girl was waiting with her, and the little girl’s eyes a little at a loss. If you can see clearly, the fruits on the table is actually fake plastic models and the dinning table was placed close the corner which only leave a space for 2 people to eat.

Before I took this photo, I choose to live with my friend for a short period, so that they can gradually get used to the existence of my camera. When I take this photo, I didn’t try to look for a perfect composition, I put the camera on my tripod and turned off the shutter and focus sound. I pressed the shutter when I feel extremely upset with the long silence of that moment , and turned off the camera immediately .

The inspiration came from a photo box of my grandfather. After his death, I found this box with all his photos from his childhood to his 70s. After seeing all the photos, I realised that I only experienced a very short time with him, and those photos of him as a young man were uncertain and unreal for me. So I think the authenticity of photography depends to some extent on the sense of participation of the photographer or as other characters. I try to participate a event with my close friends and recorded their real living state. Those photos are real and vivid for me, but they’re just like movie stills for the audience.

Project 2

Original Version

This description is about an photo album called “Road to Nowhere” which contains landscape photos taken from 2017 to 2021. The landscape are about the mutual invasion of man-made waste and the nature. There are no human images in the entire album, but you can find the traces of human activities through each photo.

I didn’t deliberately look for such sceneries to shoot, so the time span of the photos is very large. Once I encounter the similar environments, I will take a photo of them, then integrate the photos in a folder and make refresh the album. I think it’s a project that I can keep continuing and I need to be sensitive to these kind of sceneries.

In 2017, There was a large scale of rebuilt in Shanghai and the air quality in Shanghai has also declined dramatically. I took a photo of an abandoned promenade in a zoo which was going to be rebuilt in Shanghai, and I was fascinated by the state of mutual suppression and coexistence between man-made waste and nature. So I started the project. The reason why this photo album called “Road to Nowhere” is because both the vegetation that had been invaded by the ruins and the ruins that had been covered by plants gradually turned into a similar colour. A colour that was darker than their original colour. Nature and Man-made waste trapped by each other, and there’s no way to go. So I think most of the things cannot keep developing with their original shape and state and I hope through this project can remind people to rethink the relationship between human being and nature. We sacrifice the interests of nature and continue to expand the city. Eventually, nature will invade the city in the same way.

Edit Version

This description is about an photo album called “Road to Nowhere” which contains landscape photos(Shoot with a color digital camera) taken from 2017 to 2021. I took these photos while traveling or studying in various cities in China. These landscapes all show scenes where nature and man-made waste invade and coexist with each other. There are no human images in the entire album, but you can find the traces of human activities through each photo.

I didn’t deliberately look for such sceneries to shoot, so the time span of the photos is very large. Once I encounter the similar environments, I will take a photo of them, then integrate the photos in a folder and make refresh the album. The next aim for this project is to continue to think about the subject and shoot, and keep editing and adjusting the album.

In 2017, There was a large scale of rebuilt in Shanghai and the air quality in Shanghai has also declined dramatically. I took a photo of an abandoned promenade in a zoo which was going to be rebuilt in Shanghai, and I was fascinated by the state of mutual suppression and coexistence between man-made waste and nature. So I started the project. The reason why this photo album called “Road to Nowhere” is because both the vegetation that had been invaded by the ruins and the ruins that had been covered by plants gradually turned into a similar colour. A colour that was darker than their original colour. They are entangled with each other in this way, still in this form and no longer develop. So I think most of the things cannot keep developing with their original shape and state and I hope through this project can remind people to rethink the relationship between human being and nature. We sacrifice the interests of nature and continue to expand the city. Eventually, nature will invade the city in the same way.

Project 3

Original Version

There’s a nearly 4 mins video I made three years ago. In this video, you can see that one or more white human silhouettes frequently appear on a single background image that taken in the woods. The screen will jitter, blur and malfunction following the sound. Until hearing a gunfire, all the pictures disappeared but still a subtle sound here.

I got a chance to have conversations with mental illness people three years ago, and I know a teenager who was suffering Schizophrenia at that time. He always stared at the woods outside the window, so I took a picture of the woods as the background image. Through the dialogue with him, I know some of his painful feelings, like auditory hallucinations. But I cannot feel that, so I made the video look like an old-fashioned TV with poor signal, because there’s a “channel” that only him can receive. Then I downloaded some sound files from internet and edited and mixed them together.

Recent years have witnessed many negative events related to patients with mental disorders like assaulting others or committing a crime. Besides, some mental healthy people even try to be diagnosed with mental illness to escape from legal punishment. Such misconducts brought no good but stigmatised real patients. So I hope to use such a direct way to depict the feeling of people with Schizophrenia, and let more people pay attention to them and not just blindly reject them.

Edit Version

There’s a 3’43’’ video（black and white) I made three years ago. In this video, You can see one or more white human silhouettes frequently appearing on the background image of a photo taken in the forest. Background image throughout the whole video, and never changed. The screen will jitter, blur and malfunction following the sound. Until hearing a gunfire, all the pictures disappeared but still a subtle sound here.

I got a chance to have conversations with mental illness people three years ago, so I know a teenager who was suffering Schizophrenia at that time and talked with him. I took a photo of the woods where he often stays in a daze as the background image of the video.The visual effect of the video imitates the old-fashioned FM TV to express the pain he is going through that we can’t feel. Then I downloaded some sound file, such as repetitive language, screaming, etc. from internet and edited and mixed them together.

Recent years have witnessed many negative events related to patients with mental disorders like assaulting others or committing a crime. Besides, some mental healthy people even try to be diagnosed with mental illness to escape from legal punishment. Such misconducts brought no good but stigmatised real patients. So I hope to use such a direct way to depict the feeling of people with Schizophrenia, and let more people pay attention to them and not just blindly reject them.