2018 Award Finalist: 31, by Bai Shan

2018 Photobook Award Finalist

31, by Bai Shan

Self-published 2017 | China | Edition of 500

At the age of 30, I left the press photography industry to become a “free man.” However, freedom or independence also means uneasiness and confusion. These two years, I am looking for the tangle of direction and orientation.

After leaving, I saw a lot of scenery, took a lot of road, met a lot of people, told different people about my video story, produced different versions. And I always know that no emotions like the corpses of the picture. I live in this way, the photos presented are actually the real ones at this stage.

In May 2017, I edited part of the photos into the photo album “31” and adopted the same design as the white notebook, which meant to dust away some of my life. Later I found out that I did not feel self-suggestion in this form and everything improved. This kind of “silent” imagery seems to have always been with me.

If photography can release this kind of unspeakable pain, then let it break down some reality. So, I tried to reconcile myself with these photos in the context of “reality and illusion.”

Biography

Bai Shan was born in 1985 in Shandong, China. Shan is an independent photographer living in Beijing. He published the photobook ’31’ in 2017, which focuses on the individual, family, social relations and subculture.

Bai Shan was shortlisted in the first China Top 10 mobile phone photographers, the second Asia Pioneer photographer, and selected for the International Young Photographers Exhibition. His works have been exhibited in photography festivals such as China Photographic Gallery, Lanzhou Contemporary Image Museum, Beijing 798, Pingyao, Lishui and Dali.

His works have been featured in Tokyo Japan Art Book Fair and Shanghai Art Book Fair. and publications such as VISION, Photography World and China Photography News.

Website: www.baishan4.com

Finalist Gallery with Captions