In coversation with ZHOU YANG

In her hauntingly poetic project Faërie, Chinese photographer ZHOU Yang transforms historic literati gardens into timeless dreamscapes that defy the constraints of the physical world. Working with analog photography, Yang merges tradition with transformation, reviving spaces once built for meditation and escape into worlds of myth, memory, and longing. Exhibited across major festivals in China and beyond, her images beckon the viewer to step beyond the tangible, into the delicate space where culture, history, and fantasy blur.

In this conversation, we uncover the philosophical roots of her practice, her fascination with the unseen, and her belief in photography as a portal to an imagined yet utterly believable world. 

Your work often blurs the lines between reality and abstraction—if one of your photographs could come to life for a single day, what would it do? 

I consider my works more about imagination than abstraction. It is about the possibility of alternative realities, such as spirituality, the existence of fairies and ghosts, and the truth in mythology. If my photograph could come to life, it might offer we mortals a glimpse into the Faërie realm, and thus we will find Consolation in knowing that there’s something beyond this material world: something higher and larger than the visible world.

 Many of your images have a dreamlike quality. Do you consider yourself more of a visual storyteller or a collector of fleeting, subconscious moments?  

I guess contemporary viewers sometimes say ‘dreamlike’, because they don’t believe in mythologies, fairy-stories and folklores anymore. If my images give the impression of dreams, it should be collective dreams. I’m not trying to talk about dreams in a Freudism sense with my works, but we can understand myths as some sort of collective subconsciousness of the human race. Therefore, I would consider myself more of a visual storyteller, though I don’t narrate the ‘stories’ in a traditional and detailed way. Rather, I create a setting where ghosts and Immortals could exist, and where miraculous stories could happen. But I would leave the plots to the imagination of each viewer.

 If you had to create a self-portrait without photographing yourself, how would you do it? What elements or subjects would represent you? 

I usually don’t make self-portraits but I guess I would photograph the shadows of myself and my 4x5 view camera, which I use in many of my projects. I think the cameras I usually use would represent me quite well. In the practice of Chinese landscape (shanshui) painting, the masters of dynastic period would talk about oneness with your brush so that the painting would have the vital ‘qi’ (roughly translated as breath). I think in photography it’s the same. You should be one with your camera.

 Your work explores texture and contrast in unique ways. Have you ever captured an image that felt too raw or intense to share? If so, what made you hold back?  

My work is more about the spiritual experience and the sublime of nature, rather than emotional intensity. Therefore, I don’t think I’ve ever captured any image too raw or intense to share. However, in my previous project <Fading>, a photo story about my grandma’s Alzheimer’s disease and how my family cope with it, there was one scene I chose not to shot, because I felt getting that image would only strengthen the stereotype of dementia.

What’s the most unusual or unexpected place that has inspired your photography? Was it a planned discovery or a chance encounter? 

As my projects are quite planned, I don’t think there have been unexpected places that inspired me. My ‘Faërie’ project explores the traditional Chinese literati gardens, which are usually heritage sites and tourist attractions. But I try to reveal the layer of invisible spiritual space within the physical sites. My other project, ‘Sites of Myths’ are usually shot in woodlands or villages, during my artists residencies in different places in China. But these are all quite ordinary places, and my inspiration is to use light and analogue technic interventions to create/reveal the connection with mythology in ordinary sites.

If one of your photographs could be transformed into another medium—painting, sculpture, or music—how do you think it would translate?  

Actually, recently I’ve been experimenting image-based installations. My project ‘Faërie’ is about the space of traditional gardens, and now I try to create garden-like space and experience using the images. I’ve printed the images onto very large semi-transparent fabric and use these ‘curtains’ to create a space into which the viewers could stroll and meditate. Even though the viewers don’t know about the special cultural background of the Chinese gardens, they tell me that they feel peaceful in my installation/space.

Do you believe a photograph is ever truly ‘finished,’ or do you sometimes revisit past work and see it differently with time?

I think the photograph is only the beginning. After the images are captured, they could be made into books and exhibitions, or image-based installations. I always revisit past photographs and find some images that previously I though not good enough actually quite intriguing.

Thank you for the interview!

You can follow the artist here 

and read more information and buy her artworks here 

Interview by Irina Rusinovich