portraits
Photographer: wanshu
1. What significant life experiences or events have influenced and shaped your artistic vision?
Visually, I am mainly inspired by 20th-century Chinese cinema, particularly films like Farewell My Concubine by Kaige Chen and of course the works of Wong Kar Wai. I’m so drown into those parallel worlds one single picture creates, where a single frame or moment can evoke profound emotions and untold stories. My favorite photographer, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, excels at crafting seemingly mundane scenes with dramatic details, inviting viewers to linger and construct their own imaginative worlds.
2. Collaboration often sparks fresh creativity. Can you share an example of a collaboration that led to an unexpected and exciting artistic outcome?
This work "no name" is a collaboration with the performance artist Lil Soap and part of his works is about building charaters based on ancient Chinese myths. We did not properly plan the shooting with any idea beforehand, and after he showed me his own handmade animal shape headwear, I though it would be interesting to do the shooting with water. Then it turned out to be a narrative of a half-human-half-monster creature. As we started with a very strong and dramatic going, for the second look we decided to tone down a little bit. We went back to pure white Asian saint style, but tried to contrast with details of stocking and some fake blood. We played with light and gradually light felt like a symbol of life being that can be interacted with the model. This shoot was an unexpected yet thrilling outcome for both of us, showcasing the power of improvisation and shared vision.
3. Walk us through a specific project that challenged your creative boundaries. How did you approach it, and what did you learn from the experience?
I'm not sure if there's any specific project really inspired me, but my journey of photography and art study does make me reflect on the role as a photographer. Even as the person who holds the camera and the power within it, I do not like to take control everything inside it. That's why I see my models not as passive subjects but as collaborators who bring their own aesthetics, emotions, and stories to the project. I'd like to keep a more relatively equal dynamic with my models, and usually the chemistry between us brings us unexpected and innovative outcomes.
4. In the ever-evolving art world, what do you believe sets your work apart and makes it unique or groundbreaking?
Visual arts are the easiest ones to immitate and people easily lose themselves in the loops of chasing each other. I think it's really important for an artist, a photographer to develop their own aesthetics and narrative and keep doing it. Stick to what you like and what you want to do always makes you stand out.
5. As you reflect on your journey, are there any specific goals or milestones you've set for your artistic career in the coming years?
I would love to continue collaborate with different people from different fields and keep getting inspired from them. Personally, I also want to try do more moving images and videos to craft more deepened paralled fatasy worlds.
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Photographer: wanshu
Model/Makeup Artist/Hair Stylist: Lil Soap