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Photography (MA)

Guanling Chen

Guanling Chen(b.1996, China) is a photographer based in Shanghai and London. By photographing landscape, portrait and still life, she attempts to trace humanity's lost paradise and explore the romantic and fickle relationship between people, space, and herself. She is interested in self-publishing and hand-made books and enjoys the texture and tactility of different papers and printing methods. She hopes to explore more possibilities of practice in the form of touchable books.

For more information, please visit here.

Show Location: Battersea campus: Dyson & Woo Buildings, First floor

Guanling Chen-statement

Give me flowers

Give me flowers is a story of loss to love again, originating from my contemplation of the relationships between people, places, and myself. By capturing my gaze on people, objects and landscapes, I try to obtain something such as a memory of the past, a trace of life, or an imagination of the future to express my restrained and attached emotions towards family, friends, and lovers, or even a loving and hesitant attitude towards everything.

Maybe I could hug you’ is a series I composed at a time of loss and contains my discovery of the uncertainty and vulnerability of human relationships. All close people can disappear after a certain turn and our eyes cannot meet all the time. Loneliness seems to be destiny, as we cannot always be aligned with each other. In the insecurity of having lost, being lost or about to be lost, I looked at them and took a restrained set of images as a shadow of my hesitation.

My Heart Beats Another Ten Thousand Times’ was created at a time when I was rebuilding a strong connection with the present. The powerful motivation for this reconstruction is love. It is a courageous vision that allows me to recover a discovery of the beautiful present. The vision of love is creative and gives me the strength to face life in the eye. I focus on people's expressions, skin and gestures, trying to capture the real touch and feeling of meeting, knowing and loving people again.

Just as my insecurities about loss are closely linked to my longing for love, I combined these two series in my exhibition entitled Give me flowers. I love beautiful and fragile flowers as much as I am addicted to romantic and fickle relationships. An encounter is like a flower, beginning with flowers and ending with flowers. When I leave, give me flowers.

Yang by the river, 2021
Yang by the river, 2021
Mu sitting on the roof, 2022
Mu sitting on the roof, 2022
Looking away, 2020
Looking away, 2020
The cigarette ash bowl in Zimmer's room, 2020
The cigarette ash bowl in Zimmer's room, 2020
Mom in the hotel room, 2020
Mom in the hotel room, 2020
The mosquito net of brother’s bed, 2020
The mosquito net of brother’s bed, 2020
Zhu, 2021
Zhu, 2021
The little daisy, 2021
The little daisy, 2021
Sister in the sunset, 2021
Sister in the sunset, 2021
Yang, 2021
Yang, 2021
The plastic bags in the tree, 2021
The plastic bags in the tree, 2021
Shadow of leaves, 2021
Shadow of leaves, 2021
Cao, 2022
Cao, 2022
Yaoyao, 2022
Yaoyao, 2022
The car under the Osmanthus tree, 2021
The car under the Osmanthus tree, 2021
Left: White rose, 2021; Right: The feet, 2021
Left: White rose, 2021; Right: The feet, 2021
Han, 2022
Han, 2022
Chrysanthemum, 2022
Chrysanthemum, 2022
Mom ( Hand-made book, 2022), Photobook
Mom ( Hand-made book, 2022), Photobook
Mom ( Hand-made book, 2022), Photobook
Mom ( Hand-made book, 2022), Photobook
Mom ( Hand-made book, 2022), Photobook
Mom ( Hand-made book, 2022), Photobook

This is a hand-made calendar with 30 images of my mom preparing dinner in the kitchen.

The cover of the book is the Chinese word ‘妈’ means mom. I chose translucent paper to print the book to create a continuity of my mother’s motion. Every image gets two pages overlapping with different papers. When you tear the papers, you can see the effect of two different textures of the image as well as the effect of overlapping with the next action.

Medium:

Photobook

Size:

180mm*130mm
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 1
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 2
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 3
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 4
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 5
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 6
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 7
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 8
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 9
Long Way Home(2018-2020), media item 10

It is a long long way to home.

Such a long long way to go.

I spent long long night to search.

But how long will I return?

----Long Way Home by Lamplighters