Lu Nan's Trilogy of Men: China's Catholicism & Forgotten People, and 4 Seasons in Tibet

On the road, the catholic church in China © Lu Nan 呂楠

Lu Nan’s Trilogy of Men: China’s Catholicism & Forgotten People and 4 Seasons in Tibet

Influential Chinese Photographer Lu Nan 呂楠 is a man of mystery, shying away from cameras, the public and publicity. Lu has also been known to hide his name and movements under various pseudonyms. He applied for membership at Magnum Photos under the name Mao Xiaohu.

And while Lu once said it didn’t matter who the photographer was that took the pictures (good or bad), it is hard to ignore and not attribute to him his immense body of work, namely the ‘Trilogy’ series which took 15 years to complete. First in the trilogy were Lu’s photographs of patients at China’s mental hospitals titled ‘The Forgotten People, the state of Chinese psychiatric wards’. This was followed by a documentary of the catholic church in China and pilgrimages made by its followers. The last were photographs of peasants in Tibet called ‘Four Seasons’, rumoured to be made whilst Lu was on the run from ‘unfriendlies’. In 2009, Lu also made controversial photographs of prisoners in Northern Myanmar camps.