Romantic Memories Exhibited at the Lishui International Photography Festival

6 November – 15 December 2025

2nd Floor, Lishui Photography & Culture Center (Kuocang Road, Lishui)

Artists: Dana Cojbuc (France); Marie Cloquet (Belgium); Yang Bin; Han Yang; Curator: Zheng Xiaoxu

“Art can only survive when it connects upward with gods and angels, and downward with animals and the earth.”
— Joseph Beuys

Do you believe that the place where something begins may also be where it ends? That the past can move toward the future? What, then, is a boundary, and where do the boundaries of photography truly lie?

The works of these four artists invite reflection not merely on differing interpretive standards of photography, but more importantly on the search for a relativity that adapts both form and meaning. This implies sustaining doubt and introspection toward photography itself, while acknowledging the evolving relationship between images, time, and space.

Within the representational modes we have long explored, the “frame” emerges as the first manifestation of boundary. Since Aristotle’s documentation of the camera obscura, an early source of inspiration for the invention of the camera; the reproduction of light and shadow in the visible world has always been accompanied by the notion of delimitation. As photosensitive materials and viewfinders developed, the camera’s visual logic absorbed the frame as a defining boundary. In the pursuit of efficiency and standardization, we came to accept the rectangle as the camera’s sole window. From its very inception, the frame has evoked a desire for “release” precisely through its act of constraint.

With the modernity of post-production technologies, the “framed world” established by the camera is no longer central. Photography gradually departs from teleological logic, and blurred boundaries generate an atmosphere of openness. Here, artists treat the frame as a radical yet invisible criterion of recognition, prompting a renewed way of seeing entrenched boundaries and pointing toward a loosening at the level of photographic form as a medium.

Boundaries are not merely descriptive or rhetorical devices within artistic language. Traced through the materiality of images, they generate space, constructing imaginative, evocative, mnemonic, and lyrical contexts. When we feel (rather than see) that an image is yellow or pink, it is the photographer awakening the subject through sensation.

In this exhibition, the concealment of the frame operates on two levels: it foregrounds the material translation of the artist’s conceptual intent, while situating the work and time-space in a relationship of interaction and parallelism. Images thus extend into the realm of spatial experience. Through the presence of the physical artwork, the space of what is photographed reconnects with the space in which the viewer encounters the work. Time, in turn, is reconstructed and circulates anew within the act of viewing.

The boundary that images can reach is far more complex than simply abandoning the frame as a form. It requires a multidimensional articulation of visual language alongside an unfolding of internal visual narratives. In the works of these four artists, formal experimentation intertwines with humanistic reflection. “Boundary” becomes not only an exploration of photographic form, but also a poetic pursuit in which individual experience confronts human civilization. Ultimately, we return to the photograph itself, searching beyond the ordered logic of photographic imagery for a metaphysical boundary, one that can be felt as a connection upward and downward, where the presence of the divine meets the embrace of the earth.

Romantic Memories

by Han Yang

Han Yang’s Romantic Memories foregrounds female experience. She is particularly drawn to the density and texture of life as revealed through sensibility, using the body and plants as narrative mediators. The work moves beyond photography’s conventional fixation on the frozen instant, allowing time to participate in reshaping the logic of the image. Through this process, the series explores how personal memory, carried by emotion, can inhabit images and generate a form of temporal memory, one that permits movement, return, and circulation across time.

Romantic Memories Exhibited in The 30th National Photographic Art Exhibition

October 28th-November 27th, 2025

The National Photography Art Exhibition is the longest-running, largest-scale, and most influential national photography exhibition in China. Founded in 1957, it has been held successfully for 30 editions and is widely regarded as a comprehensive reflection of the development of contemporary Chinese photography.

On 28 October 2025, the 30th National Photography Art Exhibition opened at Jimei District Civic Square in Xiamen. Organized by the Chinese Photographers Association, the National Photography Art Exhibition is the longest-running, largest-scale, and most influential national photography exhibition in China. Founded in 1957, it has been held successfully for 30 editions and is widely regarded as a comprehensive reflection of the development of contemporary Chinese photography.

For this edition, the exhibition received submissions from 21,113 photographers, with over 102,810 entries totaling more than 306,000 images, marking the first time submissions exceeded 300,000 photographs. The selected works draw directly from lived experience, offering a panoramic view of social change and everyday life in China since 2023.

The 30th edition demonstrates a notable advancement in visual presentation and artistic diversity. The exhibited works range from engagements with traditional Chinese aesthetic frameworks to explorations shaped by contemporary photographic discourse. They include both a commitment to photography’s intrinsic visual language and innovative experiments employing alternative techniques and conceptual approaches.

Han Yang's Romantic Memories was selected as an Art Category – Single Image. Emerging from a highly competitive submission pool, the work was recognized for its artistic clarity and conceptual sensitivity, and is presented as part of the exhibition’s exploration of contemporary photographic expression.

Romantic Memories featured in BBART Harper’s Bazaar Art

September 20th, 2025

BBART Harper’s Bazaar Art is the art edition of Harper’s Bazaar, focusing on contemporary art, photography, design, and cultural trends. It highlights influential artists and works worldwide, emphasizing the dialogue between art, society, identity, and memory.

Han Yang’s series Romantic Memories combines abstraction and surrealist visual language to explore the intertwining of personal experience, femininity, and temporality. Through the manipulation of light, shadow, and fragmented color, the work reinterprets the female body as both subject and metaphor, reversing linear time and revealing hidden emotional textures.

Drawing from women’s lived experiences, the series emphasizes life’s intensity and fragility, employing the body as a vessel for memory and desire. By allowing time to participate in the re-editing of imagery, Romantic Memories investigates how individual memories and emotions can be inscribed into images, generating affective spaces of remembrance.

“Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards 2025”

August 20th, 2025

Recognized among nearly 14,000 entries from over 100 countries, Metamorphosis stands out for its artistic strength and has been featured in both the IPA 2025 Honorable Mention Gallery and the Annual Book of Photography.

Han Yang’s series Metamorphosis has been awarded an Honorable Mention in the Analog / Film Fine Art category of the International Photography Awards (IPA) 2025.

The 2025 IPA competition received nearly 14,000 entries from over 100 countries, reviewed by a distinguished panel of internationally renowned photography experts. Recognition of Metamorphosis among such a significant body of international submissions highlights the strength and resonance of Han Yang’s artistic vision.

In addition, Metamorphosis was selected as part of the Jury Top 5 Selection by juror Chris Peters, further underscoring its reception within the international photography community.

The winning entry will be presented in the IPA 2025 Honorable Mention Gallery and published in the IPA Annual Book of Photography.

Read the full article here: https://photoawards.com/winner/zoom.php?eid=8-1722604236-25

“The Surprising Cost of Our Quest to Defy Aging”

July 17th, 2025

The article explores the hidden environmental and social costs of the booming anti-aging industry, questioning whether the pursuit of longevity is sustainable or equitable.

Han Yang’s photographic work is featured in the latest issue of ATMOS Magazine, accompanying the article “The Surprising Cost of Our Quest to Defy Aging” by Darshita Goyal.

This thought-provoking piece investigates the booming anti-aging and longevity industry—from collagen supplements to IV drips—and reveals its often overlooked environmental cost. While marketed as pathways to wellness, many of these treatments carry significant ecological and ethical implications, raising questions about sustainability, access, and equity.

ATMOS is a leading publication at the intersection of ecology, culture, and art. Known for its visually rich and intellectually rigorous storytelling, it has long been a source of inspiration and admiration in Han’s creative practice.

Read the full article here: https://atmos.earth/surprising-cost-anti-aging/

The Color Photography Contest by reFocus Awards

July 9, 2025

This year’s competition welcomed entries from 83 countries, highlighting outstanding work from across the global photographic community. The jury included industry professionals from National Geographic Society, Sonder Publications, The Gulf Report, and others.

Han Yang has received the Silver Prize in the Fine Art category of the 2025 reFocus Awards: Color Photography Contest for the series Metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis is a conceptual portrait series that explores queer identity and visual transformation through the lens of speculative aesthetics. This project explores the transformative journey of the queer body through butterfly symbolism. The butterfly, representing rebirth, fluidity and metamorphosis, reflects the evolving nature of queer identity. This visual narrative captures the ongoing, personal metamorphosis of queer identity.

More about the award: https://refocus-awards.com/entry/metamorphosis-3