theparisreview: Ren Hang, a queer Chinese photographer, has committed suicide at twenty-nine. Stepha
theparisreview: Ren Hang, a queer Chinese photographer, has committed suicide at twenty-nine. Stephanie H. Hung describes his defiant work: “Using a small Minolta point-and-shoot camera, Ren Hang acts as director, moving hands and legs, lifting girls on top of girls, and arranging flowers on top of men. The subjects are all close friends or models he interviews beforehand who trust and respond well to the photographer’s demands. The resulting photographs—untitled and dated only for convenience—do not consciously attempt to address queer identity in China but rather function as a form of play or performance in a place where any explicit declaration of same-sex orientation is still considered risky and nude photographs are routinely labeled pornographic … He develops and scans his film at private studios to avoid obscenity charges and has become keenly aware of the potential for censorship. Still, he is often harassed online, and his works, when on public view, have been spit upon or taken down, leaving only empty frames.” This and more in today’s culture roundup. Ren Hang ist tot. :( -- source link