Peking Wood

Each face in this series of photographs attempts to capture the inner landscape of today's Chinese youth, and to portray the interweaving of reality and dreams, as well as confusion and struggles in life.

Over 100 years ago, under the guidance and enlightenment of Ch'en Tu-hsiu and his journal “La Jeunesse (New Youth)”, the young people of that era shouted for a better future for their state. Everything they did in Peking (now known as Beijing) deeply influenced the destiny of China. Today, more than a century later, the echoes of their call-to-arms still linger on, while enlightenment remains an unfinished task. Peking has transformed into Beijing, and the youth of China is facing strong cultural conflicts bringing about contradictory thoughts, diverse values and valuations bringing about contradictory behaviors, and double standards bringing about hidden crises.

The prosperous Beijing resembles vast steel woods where the youth are living quietly. I walked into their living space which is not large physically but more like a big stage presenting their selves in everyday life.

Inspired by Jeff Wall’s photography as conceptual art, I took this collection of photographs to portray individual differences and their rich inner worlds in terms of housing, self-awareness, beliefs, feminism, sexuality, education, and more. Instead of Jeff Wall’s large-format film camera, I used the full-frame digital camera to create similar artistic effects, which blurs image medium boundaries. And just like the artworks we made have presented, the boundaries between reality and fiction are also blurred.Societal judgments and rules are disconnected from their true spirits.

I cannot tell which is the real them. Maybe that signifies the interweaving of reality and dreams, as well as their confusion and struggles in life.