About

Born in Dezhou, Shandong Province, China in 1987

Live and work in Albany, New York.

Education

1/2012-12/2013 Master of Art

Department of Fine Art, University at Albany, State University of New York

10/2004-6/2008 Bachelor in Fine Arts

Department of Photography, School of Media and Animation, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China

Artist Statement

Since the very first time I encountered the art of photography, I have been obsessed with the representation of small, ordinary objects in everyday life. Common objects, plastic containers, wrapping paper, leftover food bits, have been reframed and reassembled to better express themselves as both still-life and futuristic arrangements. I try to avoid including too much information or too much emotion, and I try to get close to the essence of nature. My work is a dialogue between the object and the viewer using form and formal qualities; symmetry, balance and repetition. I inject personal experience into my subjects by my choice of subject matter, not the way it is presented.

I started a series of photograph of Chinese medicine because I am interested in exploring my original Chinese cultural identity. The experience of moving to the United States has caused me to reconsider and redefine what Chinese medicine means to me, and to exam what makes Chinese medicine distinct in the western world. I was intrigued by how beautiful Chinese medicine is and how my photo would transform it into something more mysterious. This series of photographs were taken with a long exposure time in a completely dark room with a small flash light. In these pictures, I attempted to express the mystery and the enchantment of these subjects. Formal composition is the way I could step in close to the objects, and the delicate light is the procedure which I could find and create a universe centered on the things I see. I use a long exposure and a small aperture to create the highly textured details, for me this is parallel to the way Chinese medicine tells a treatment story through the way details and nuance are “read” and interpreted.