Zhang Xiao (, born 23 November 1981, in

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on the ...

Biography
Zhang's website.) is a Chinese photographer who has published several series of photographs of China in flux.

Life and career

Zhang graduated in architecture from

Yantai University Yantai University () is a key provincial public university of Shandong Province founded in 1984 with the assistance of two C9 league members (Peking University and Tsinghua University) in Yantai, Shandong, China. History Yantai University was est ...

in 2005. From 2006 to 2009, he worked in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Co ...

as a photographer for the ''Chongqing Morning Post'' (《重庆晨报》). From the start, he carried two cameras: one for work, and a cheap

medium format Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&n ...

camera for personal use.Pedro de Almeida,
A conversation with Zhang Xiao
, ASX, 2013. Accessed 8 October 2014. Zhang has been inspired by the photography of

Diane Arbus Diane Arbus (; née Nemerov; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
" The New York ...

Alec Soth Alec Soth (born 1969) is an American photographer, based in Minneapolis. Soth makes "large-scale American projects" featuring the midwestern United States. ''New York Times'' art critic Hilarie M. Sheets wrote that he has made a "photographic care ...

and

Boris Mikhailov Boris Mikhailov may refer to: * Boris Mikhailov (Comintern), representative of the Communist International to the US in 1929-30 * Boris Mikhailov (photographer) (born 1938), fine art photographer * Boris Mikhailov (ice hockey) (born 1944), former ...

''They''

''They'' is a series of photographs mostly taken while Zhang was working in Chongqing; they are of scenes in Chongqing itself but also nearby on the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

and Jialing rivers and elsewhere. The colour photographs are square format, and employed a

Holga The Holga is a medium format 120 film camera, made in Hong Kong, known for its low-fidelity aesthetic. The Holga's low-cost construction and simple meniscus lens often yields pictures that display vignetting, blur, light leaks and other dis ...

camera. A book of the photographs was published in China in 2012; two years later a smaller selection was published in Paris.

''Coastline''

For ''Coastline'', Zhang "visited every town and city along the Chinese coastline", from 2009 to 2013. The photographs are colour again, but this time Zhang used a Mamiya 7 II camera. Zhang has described the coastline as " hina'sfirst area of impact from external culture and the rapid economic development; the series "records subtle and surreal moments of life by the sea".Erik Tanner,
A record of China's changing coastlines
, ''Time'' Lightbox, 12 February 2012. Accessed 8 October 2014. Cited by Agnès Sire as showing an intimate and contemporary China without any exoticism, ''Coastline'' won 2011, and as a result was widely exhibited and published in book form in

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province ...

Actes Sud Actes Sud is a French publishing house based in Arles. It was founded in 1978 by author Hubert Nyssen. By 2013, the company, then headed by Nyssen's daughter, Françoise Nyssen, had an annual turnover of 60 million euros and 60 staff members. H ...

in 2011.Lauréats 2011
, Prix HSBC pour la photographie. Accessed 8 October 2014. Three years later a different selection was published in

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and ...

by Jiazazhi Press, and a smaller selection in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

by Zen Foto Gallery.

''Envelopes''

In China photojournalists are offered cash for their positive comment on a topic they are covering. Although in his career as a photojournalist Zhang declined such offers of envelopes containing large sums of money where he considered it unconscionable to do so, he accepted those with smaller sums where he considered the topic insignificant. He collected the envelopes, which he has exhibited.

''Shanxi''

Zhang used a Holga again for the square, colour photographs of traditional rituals surrounding the lunar new year in

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

. The book ''Shanxi'' was first published by Little Big Man in the United States; Sean O'Hagan describes it as "a seductive book, a glimpse of a world of pagan custom that somehow endures against the odds, dreamlike and entrancing".

Exhibitions

*''Envelope''. Lianzhou International Photography Festival (

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

, China), 2009.Biography
of Zhang, MIO Photo Award. Accessed 8 October 2014. *''They''. Pingyao International Photography Festival (

Pingyao Pingyao, officially Pingyao Ancient City, is a walled city in central Shanxi, China, famed for its importance in Chinese economic history and for its well-preserved Ming and Qing urban planning and architecture. Administratively, it comprises ...

, Shanxi, China), 2009. *''Coastline''. Format International Photography Festival (

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, England), March–May 2009.Exhibition notice
Format. Accessed 8 October 2014. *GIM, Galerie im Medienhaven (

Bremen Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state cons ...

, Germany), 2010. *''She Huo'' = 社火. MIO Photo Award (

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

), 2010. *''Coastline'', Prix HSBC pour la Photographie; Galerie le Réverbère (

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

), May–July 2011; Galerie Baudoin Lebon (

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

), September 2011; Galerie L'Arsenal (

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

), September–October 2011; (

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

), November 2011. *''They.'' Blind Spot Gallery (

Wong Chuk Hang Wong Chuk Hang () is a neighbourhood in the Southern District of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. History Neolithic artifacts have been unearthed in a region called Chung Hom Wan, which is not far from Wong Chuk Hang. In 1550 the Hong Kong Vill ...

, Hong Kong), March–April 2013. *''Shanxi.'' Pékin Fine Arts (

Aberdeen, Hong Kong Aberdeen () is an area on southwest Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Southern District. While the name "Aberdeen" could be taken in a broad sense to encompass the areas of Aberdeen (town), Wong Chuk Hang, Ap L ...

), October–December 2013. Pékin Fine Arts (Beijing), October–December 2013. *''Coastline'' = . Zen Foto Gallery (

Roppongi is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene. A few foreign embassies are located near Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike. It is ...

, Tokyo), September–October 2014. *''Coastline.'' Singapore International Photography Festival (Singapore), October–November 2014.Exhibition notice
, Singapore International Photography Festival. Accessed 8 October 2014.

Awards

*Houdengke Documentary Photography Award, 2009 *Three Shadows Photography Award, 2010.
, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre. Accessed 8 October 2014. *Southern Documentary Photography Award (China), 2010. *Photography Talent Award (France), 2010. *Finalist, MIO Photo Award (Japan), 2010.
, MIO Photo Award 2010. Accessed 8 October 2014. *, 2011.

Publications

Publications by Zhang

*''Zhang Xiao 1.'' Geneva: Boabooks, 2010. . Black and white photographs; no captions, no text; in notepad format. Edition of 40 copies.The edition size appears in the colophon. Boabooks' web page for ''Zhang Xiao 1'' and ''Zhang Xiao 2'', as it was on 14 September 2014, is availabl
here
at the Internet Archive. *''Zhang Xiao 2.'' Geneva: Boabooks, 2010. . Black and white photographs; no captions, no text; in notepad format. Edition of 40 copies. *''Coastline.'' Arles: Actes Sud, 2011. . Book of colour photographs, no captions. With a preface by Yan Changjiang and an afterword by Jiang Wei; texts in both French and English.Actes Sud's web page for ''Coastline'' i
here
Accessed 8 October 2014. *''They'' = 《他们》. N.p.: Jia Za Zhi Press, 2012. . Book of colour photographs, no captions; text in English and Chinese by Hai Jie (). First edition of 500 copies.The spine and title page say only ''They'' and "Zhang Xiao"; the colophon adds 《他们》 and 张晓. Edition size stated in the colophon. Jiazazhi Press's web page for ''They'' i
here
Accessed 8 October 2014. *''They.'' Zine Collection 11. Paris: Éditions Bessard, 2014. . Stapled booklet of colour photographs (no captions), with one small original print and text by Zhang in English. First edition of 250 copies.Edition size stated in the front. Éditions Bessard's information about ''They'' appears within a pop-up on it
top page
Accessed 8 October 2014. *''Shanxi.'' N.p.: Little Big Man, 2013. Book of colour photographs, no captions. First edition of 300 copies.Title and photographer's name are given in Roman letters only. Edition size stated in the colophon. Little Big Man's web page for ''Shanxi'' i
here
Accessed 8 October 2014. *《海岸綫》 (《海岸线》) = ''Coastline.'' Sham Shui Po, Kowloon: Jiazazhi Press, 2014. . Book of colour photographs, no captions. With a booklet containing texts in both Chinese and English by Yan Changjiang () and Gu Zheng (), and other material. First edition of 600 copies.《海岸綫》 and 張曉 on the spine and in the colophon, ''Coastline'' and "Zhang Xiao" on the front cover and in the colophon, 《海岸线》 on the title page. Edition size stated in the colophon. The publisher's web page for ''Coastline'' i
here
Accessed 8 October 2014. * = ''Coastline.'' Tokyo: Zen Foto Gallery, 2014. Stapled booklet of colour photographs; texts by Zhang and Gu Zheng in Japanese, Chinese and English. First edition of 500 copies.Shashasha's web page for ''Coastline'' i
here
Accessed 8 October 2014.

Publications with contributions by Zhang

*''Unfamiliar Familiarities—Outside Views on Switzerland.'' Zürich: Lars Müller, 2017. Edited by Peter Pfrunder, Lars Willumeit, and Tatyana Franck. . A six-volume set: one volume by Zhang and the others by Alinka Echeverría, Shane Lavalette,

Eva Leitolf Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...

, Simon Roberts, plus a text volume in English, German, and French. Published to accompany an exhibition at

Musée de l'Élysée Musée de l'Élysée is a museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, entirely devoted to photography. It is a government-supported institution founded in 1985 by Charles-Henri Favrod. It was housed in an 18th-century mansion until October 2020.

, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Notes

References

External links

Zhang's website
with many examples of each of his series
Louise Clements introduces Zhang Xiao's Coastline series
, Format International Photography Festival (via YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Xiao Chinese photographers Artists from Yantai Living people 1981 births