Xiang Geng
Involuntary Activity (Series)
DESCRIPTION
As a common 90s born Chinese child from an urban middle-class family, I am an only child. Loneliness and stress were around me during my entire childhood. After I came to the U.S, unfamiliar culture and surroundings made these feelings increasingly serious. This work expresses this loneliness through narrative photographs. According to a survey from Zhejiang University, 83.9% of single-children often feel lonely as they grow up.
I make pictures to express abstract emotions by making them into a concrete figurative frame. I recreate dreams and nightmares, relying on the environment as a blank canvas. I use limited objects to tell a story and explore the emotions of loneliness anxiety. By wearing a white mask, I remove the identity of the character to intentionally represent that these feelings not only happen to me, but are a common problem to single-child families.
In this series, I used a great amount of symbols. For instance, in the photo “Golden Fish”, Golden Fish implies the single-child, water implies the family. Family gives survival conditions to their child, but they also over protect their child, which makes Children feel breathless. Symbols are like clues to lead the audience to solve the puzzles. Such
AUTHOR
He was born in Wuhan and raised in Guangdong, China. Sean came to the United States in 2013. He graduated in University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 2018 and received a Bachelor degree of Fine Art, emphasis in Photography. Now he studies in the New School, Parsons School of Design, MFA in Photography in the New York City.
Awards
Honorable Mention, Photographer's Forum Magazine 36th Annual Best of Photography Contest.
Honorable Mention , Photographer's Forum Magazine 37th Annual College & High School Photography Contest
Exhibition
2018Involuntary Activity, Group exhibition in China Pingyao International Photo Festival.
2018Involuntary Activity, Duo Exhibition with Sara Rock at Univ. of Central Missouri, Gallery of Art, MO. Curated by Gage Bunting.
2018Involuntary Activity, The 14th Annual Rites of Passage exhibit at Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH. June, 1st - June 29th.
2018Lei Feng in the U.S., The BFA Juried Exhibition at sUgAR Gallery at Downtown, Fayetteville, AR.
2017Involuntary Activity, Four fine art students photo exhibition "Completely Subconscious" at Lalaland Art Gallery, Fayetteville, AR.
2017The Nonsense Town Series,The Constructed Image Exhibition at Lalaland Gallery, Fayetteville, AR.
2017How's Wife Series, BFA Graduation Exhibition at Art Gallery, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,AR
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