Wandering In The Desire Room

Bo Fan

Summary
Final work

Bo Fan (b. 2002) is a London- and Shanghai-based artist and photographer currently pursuing an MA in Photography at the London College of Communication, UAL.

Rooted in self-exploration and the tension between visibility and silence, his work examines how desire and identity are negotiated under cultural constraints. Yet his creative perspective remains grounded in his lived experience as a member of a marginalized community, shaping his distinct visual sensibility and worldview. Through a queer lens, Bo transforms personal experience into emotionally resonant narratives that blur the boundary between reality and reconstruction.

His work across portraiture, editorial, and commissioned photography.His main ongoing self-portrait project Wandering in the Desire Room reflects on growing up queer in East Asia, where the lack of sex education and public discourse fostered fear and self-suppression. The series has been exhibited in London, Wales, Paris, and Kuala Lumpur.

During his MA, Bo chose the Publishing Pathway, which, combined with his undergraduate background in industrial design, has allowed him to develop a nuanced understanding of book-making and publishing. He has self-published two photobooks, one of which named ‘In Attic’ showcased at Peckham 24, ABBF, and Photo London 2025.

Bo Fan (b. 2002) is a London- and Shanghai-based artist and photographer currently pursuing an MA...

CollegeLondon College of Communication
CourseMA Photography
Graduation year2025

This project begins with a desire to be seen. Growing up queer in an East Asian context, Bo experienced silence, inadequate sex education, and the confusion of adolescence marked by marginalisation. Self-portraiture becomes a way to revisit these wounds, turning memory into visibility and seeking both confrontation and healing.

Here, self-portraiture is both method and politics. By uniting photographer, subject, and spectator, Bo transforms exposure into a declaration of existence against erasure. For East Asian queer bodies, visibility is survival. Created within intimate spaces, the images place the private on display, dismantling the closet through moments of provocation, humour, and strangeness. Vulnerability becomes resistance; discomfort becomes revelation. Whoever feels uneasy is precisely the one confronted—and invited to reconsider what it means for queer bodies to be seen.