Theatrical. Conceptual. Bold. These are the words that come to mind when one encounters Chen Wei’s works. Recently featured in the exhibition "Brilliant City" at David Zwirner Hong Kong, his iconic photographs reconstruct memories and locations from childhood, and his daily experiences in Beijing.

Contrary to the spontaneous and dynamic quality of documentary photography, Chen’s work is about the careful handcrafting of objects, assembling sets, and meticulous composition to reconstruct urban scenes of Beijing to offer a glimpse into an alternative reality. 

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Jiang Pengyi exhibits mastery over a wide spectrum of photography styles—from his earlier documentary works to recent experimentations with photography as a medium for abstraction.

He comments on the overlooked by-effects of urban regeneration, while exploring analogue photography and the properties of light, resulting in abstract works. In his series “Everything Illuminates”, the depicted objects are stripped of their representational and functional attributes and given a sense of vigour to be rediscovered through the use of fluorescent matter.

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Yuyang Liu is a freelance photographer for Getty Images, The New York Times and The Washington Post. He focuses on ethnic, health, and environmental issues in China, while also taking on assignments such as on sustainable fishery in West Africa. He won the Magnum Foundation Human Rights & Photography Fellowship, Abigail Cohen Fellowship in Documentary Photography and Ian Parry Scholarship, and was selected as PDN’s 30 in 2017.

His photographs tell compelling stories, at times confronting the uncomfortable truth of how society treats the mentally ill, and responding to the government initiative under growing tensions with the Muslim-Uighur population. 

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Shi Yangkun was born in Zhoukou, Henan, and moved to London where he received an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the London College of Communication. In 2017, he has won the prestigious PDN Emerging Photographer competition.

His "Solastalgia" series, which explores the “form of melancholy evoked by changes that have happened in the used-to-be familiar home environment”, attempts to document the loss of home and memories due to urban regeneration projects. 

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Hailing from Qingdao, China, Taca Sui is a fine art photographer who documents the passage of time through his poetic depictions of often neglected cultural artefacts. Having exhibited in both China and USA,Taca engages with Chinese history and literature by drawing inspiration from texts layered with historical and literary significance.

From travelling to and documenting locations associated with The Book of Odes (Shi Jing) to tracing the steps of the Qing dynastry imperial bureaucrat Huang Yi, Taca produces stunning black-and-white works that resemble Chinese ink paintings that evoke a similar otherwordly poetic beauty.

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Xiaoxiao Xu, a native of Wenzhou in eastern China, moved with her family to the Netherlands when she was a teenager. The constant changes that took place in her hometown during her years away overwhelmed her, and forced her to reconcile with memories of a completely different experience.

Whether depicting daily objects, or men and women in their homes, Xu’s work exhibits a high level of attention to the human experience and their surrounding environments. For Xu, photography is a medium to explore her roots and recreate experiences in a mystical and elusive atmosphere.

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Having studied traditional painting and calligraphy at a young age, Yang Yongliang injects the traditional medium of ink with a new life by creating “digital” landscapes. Though the images resemble Chinese landscape from afar, a closer look reveals layers of urban and natural images, including buildings, cranes, traffic and urban wastelands.

Yang has held exhibitions in esteemed galleries and institutions all over the world, including at The Louvre, Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.

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Active online in the past decade, duo Zhang Jungang & Li Jie see photography as part of their daily routines, bringing their cameras with them wherever they go to capture fleeting moments. Their art is highly subjective and personal, coupled with blurry and ethereal qualities.

According to them, their works are a celebration of “youth and love”, which is manifested in the spontaneous aesthetics, vibrant hues and occasional light leaks resulting from a 135 film camera.The duo have exhibited in notable exhibitions, including Pingyao International Photography Festival (2005), San Francisco Photographic Art Exposition (2006), and Chambers Fine Art (2008).

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This story was originally posted on The Artling.