Zhen Shi is a French-Chinese visual artist born in Shandong on September 9, 1989 in northeastern China.
She lived for some in Beijing and Angers and subsequently started working as a photographer after completing his studies in Paris.
The work of Zhen Shi, combines storytelling and artistic aesthetics, focusing on various topics, including the intricate relationship between reality and memories, issues of personal identity, sociological documentation and even the changing landscape of his land.
She has produced a diverse series of works composed of photographs, artist’s books and videos and the most important works are “Kwei Yih” and “Memories of past things”.
Her “Kwei Yih” series is a project deeply rooted in his personal experience.
Zhen Shi explains: “After many years of wandering away from home, I found myself falling into a state of anxiety and impotence, trying impatiently to regain a sense of belonging”.
“I started this project in 2012, when I had to choose a future. But I do not understand why we need to choose so many things at such a young age. I flew to the north-western border of China, where no one knows me. A year later, I went down to the southwest border when I tried to redefine something – where I am and where I’m going. In the end I realized that all the things I was looking for in these years, in reality, is how to accept “oneself” as part of “existing” when questions about identity and all kinds of nostalgia come to embrace me. In this sense, Kwei Yih is not only a journalistic record of my long road, but also a work on memory, imagination and self-comfort. “
“All the encounters turn in life by unbelievable probability and they all pass by. Memories will fade, and with age even faster than a photo paper. But, whenever I think I can forget them, there are always some frangments which recall the subtle habits of someone, or a few isolated words and phrases. And that is what I want to keep.”
Her work: “Memories of past things” starts in 2015 when he finds an old newspaper at the Brussels flea market.
The author is a woman named Laure Lorthioire-De Mot who tells simple but very interesting stories about her family and their times, crossing four generations between 1872 and 1954, with many letters, images and so on.
So Zhen Shi decided to tell this story through an artist’s book.
Becoming increasingly interested in the history of this family can find the great-grandchildren of Madame Laure and in particular comes into contact with Christine with whom he is organizing the creation of the second volume of the book.
Exhibitions:
01/2017 – Festival Circulation(S), Paris France
01/2017 – Espace Emergency,Vavey, Switzerland
10/2016 – Les Confrontations Photo, Gex, France
09/2016 – Photobook Week Aarhus, Aurhus, Denmark
09/2016 – Gucang Contemporary photo gallery, Lanzhou, China
08/2016 – Art Book in China abcf Art Book Fair, Shanghai, China
07/2016 – BYOPaper, Night Of the year, Les Recontres d’Arles, France
07/2016 – White Gloves Corner with Leboudoir 2.0, Arles, France
07/2016 – The 2016 Book Awards, Les Recontres d’Arles, France
04/2016 – Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijin, China
11/2015 – Lianzhou Foto Festival, Canton, China
08/2012 – The 1st Joint Exhibition of China Outstanding Graduation Design Works, Shanghai, China
07/2012 – Galerie Arlatino, Arles, France
References:
http://www.shi-zhen.com/accueil
http://photographyofchina.com/blog/zhen-shi
http://confrontations-photo.org/2016-zhen-shi/
https://www.facebook.com/zhen.shi.31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQmCBUde9Vg
https://www.galerie-circulations.com/collections/zhen-shi