- CollegeLondon College of Communication
- CourseMA Photography
- Graduation year2025
Light is the medium through which photography comes into being.
In this project, the images are not direct records of real-world scenes but are generated through the interaction of light and various materials—a process that explores the materiality of photography, drawing on the concept of Wu Xing—the Five Elements in Chinese philosophy. Some images verge on abstraction, others hint at recognisable forms, yet none aim to reproduce fixed objects. Each image becomes a happening, rather than a scene captured, recording moments of perception that resist definition and point to another possibility of photography beyond representation.
Final work
The Image as a Happening
This project uses light as a medium to explore the materiality and abstraction of photographs. Each image becomes a happening rather than being a static result. The image continuously unfolds and transforms through the process of viewing, generation, and dissemination. Inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s idea in The Will to Power that ‘there are no facts, only interpretations,’ I focus on how the formation of images reflects the fluidity of perception and meaning, questioning photography’s reliability as a means of representation.
To explore this theme I created a spiral bound artist book containing images based on the concept of the Five Elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth) in Chinese philosophy. Each image is generated through the interaction between light and different materials. On the back of each page I present a provocation - whether this discription is true or not is left for the viewer to decide. The multiple interpretations offered by the audience becomes an integral part of the work itself.
Ultimately, through the photographic process, a world of non-existent landscapes and interventions is constructed. As photographer Richard Avedon stated,‘all photographs are accurate, none of them is truth’. Perhaps there is no such thing as a truth in the understanding of images. Every time we view an image, it is a kind of creation out of nothing. The only certainty is that it can be felt, narrated, and believed - if only for a moment. The understanding of images exists in people’s minds.
The Image as a Happening
2025
The Image as a Happening
2025
The Image as a Happening
2025
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