Advisor: Isak Berbic

Artist Statement:

As a photographer from China, I am drawn to the unique beauty of the world around me. Through my use of digital and film photography, I aim to capture the intricate details of life that often go unnoticed. My artistic practice centers around landscape and street photography, which allows me to explore the intersection of nature and urban life.

I am constantly seeking new ways to use light and color to convey the emotions and thoughts that are hidden within my subjects. My unique insight into these elements allows me to create images that are both visually stunning and deeply meaningful. I prefer to shoot from a distance, observing my subjects as they go about their lives, and capturing candid moments that reveal the essence of their being.

As someone who struggles with memory, photography has become my “second brain,” allowing me to preserve moments and experiences that would otherwise be lost to time. Through my work, I aim to create images that transcend the barriers of language, culture, and race, connecting people from around the world through a shared experience of the beauty and complexity of life.

My ultimate goal as a photographer is to create images that inspire and engage viewers, inviting them to experience the world in a new way. Through my lens, I hope to capture not just the physical reality of the world around us, but also the emotions, thoughts, and experiences that make us who we are. Whether through landscape or street photography, I hope my work can be a testament to the power of art to transcend time, space, and cultural boundaries, bringing people together in a shared experience of the beauty of the human experience.

Project 1 Thesis Statement: What We Talk About When We Talk About Street Performances

Music is a magic that can break down barriers. In an age where everyone is guarded, street music performance is a fun and effective way to quickly bring performers and passersby closer together (of course, “street” is just a broad term, as long as the performance is non-commercial and outdoors, in my opinion, it is “street performance”. The performers can be on a mountain, by a lake, or on a rooftop). Artists choose to take to the streets for different reasons: some to practice (and don’t want an audience), some to showcase themselves and get a chance, some to gain experience performing in front of an audience, some to get paid… Whatever the reason, whatever the instrument used, whatever the style of music played, street performers are communicating and sharing the music they love in their own way, making the audience stop and applaud. The fast pace of city life seems to be an unstoppable trend, but there are always people willing to stop and enjoy The Four Seasons by Vivaldi or Let It Be by the Beatles. In this project, I documented these beautiful moments with digital and film photographs. I wanted to create a movie screen feel by resizing all the photos to 16:9 with 2.35:1 border. The moments when these artists took to the streets to play were, in a sense, like characters appearing in a movie, passing through the lives of the audience and leaving deep and shallow impressions in their lives. Although the photographs cannot carry the sound, I hope these images will give the audience a sense of serene power.

Title: Flute Time, Date: April 2023, Dimensions: 1380 x 920 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Accordion Time, Date: February 2023, Dimensions: 2280 x 1283 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Band Time, Date: February 2023, Dimensions: 1980 x 1114 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Accordion Time 2, Date: April 2023, Dimensions: 1620 x 911 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Guitar Time, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 1436 x 808 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Violin Time, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 1980 x 1114 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Guitar Time 2, Date: April 2023, Dimensions: 1357 x 763 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Drum Time, Date: February 2023, Dimensions: 1980 x 1114 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Guitar Time 3, Date: April 2023, Dimensions: 1560 x 878 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Erhu Time, Date: April 2023, Dimensions: 1320 x 880 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Guitar Time 4, Date: April 2023, Dimensions: 1320 x 743 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Audience Time, Date: April 2023, Dimensions: 1920 x 1080 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Guitar Time 5, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 2160 x 1215 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Title: Guitar Time 6, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 1680 x 945 px, Medium: Digital Photography

Project 2 Thesis Statement: Abstraction

In this project, I recorded some abstract things through 35mm black and white film. When I looked at things around me from another perspective with an abstract eye, I found that inconspicuous things also have their own shapes, and through repetition, rotation, vertical and horizontal interlacing, and alternation of light and dark, they constitute concrete life. It doesn’t matter whether those hanging in the sky are lights or UFOs, because when I put a part of something under the lens, it can no longer be that thing itself. The black and white film makes these things look simpler and more direct. There must be people in this world who were born with such a perspective on the world, and I am honored to be able to experience this briefly through black and white film.

Title: Railing, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 2934 x 2352 px, Medium: Film Photography

Title: Spin, Date: February 2023, Dimensions: 2917 x 2359 px, Medium: Film Photography

Title: Lights, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 1692 x 1369 px, Medium: Film Photography

Title: Pillars, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 2874 x 2347 px, Medium: Film Photography

Title: Seats, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 2853 x 2297 px, Medium: Film Photography

Title: Door, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 2846 x 2307 px, Medium: Film Photography

Title: Squares, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 2847 x 2304 px, Medium: Film Photography

Title: Shadow of the Door, Date: March 2023, Dimensions: 2890 x 2328 px, Medium: Film Photography