A Visual Digression from Reality in Contemporary China

In his series Hallucination, Chinese photographer Ge Zeng presents a poetic representation of an alternative subconscious world and his own belief in a parallel existence that is replete with random encounters.

In his series Hallucination, Chinese photographer Ge Zeng presents a poetic representation of an alternative subconscious world and his own belief in a parallel existence that is replete with random encounters.

This is a series of black and white photographs taken in China from 2012 to 2017. What is represented here doesn't aim to be a simple copy of the real world; it reflects my illusions. I call it the collection of my imagination. I use my way to perceive the world and encounter numerous things which then become different from what we normally see. In the world I live, I find another world that is unknown to others and only belongs to me; a world that is full of rough and improvisational experiences.

We think that we know the world very well, but the reality is not as real as you can witness. When we encounter the "real" world it becomes strange. I am so excited when I fall into the depths of illusion and reality. Only images can combine time and space in a precise moment as if a circuit is connected, permitting my eyes to record. Images are so charming that they allow me to have another world, and gradually I become very greedy, eventually lost in the illusion created by myself.

Words and Pictures by Ge Zeng.

Ge Zeng is a photographer and visual artist living and working in Guangzhou, China. He graduated as a Master of Arts in Artistic Theory from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 2015. His work focuses on the reality and absurdity of the other side of things. Find him on PHmuseum and Instagram.

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This feature is part of Story of the Week, a selection of relevant projects from our community handpicked by the PHmuseum curators.