Weng Fen
Themes of transformation, globalization, boundaries, and migration permeate the imagery of Chinese photographer Weng Fen (also known as Weng Peijun). In his understated pictures, vast, blue skies are predominately featured, and his compositions typically consist of an individual or small group of people, their backs to the camera. In some cases, these subjects look upon rising cityscapes, large bodies of water, or utopic natural landscapes, their bodies dwarfed by the scale and magnitude of their surroundings, whether that be human technology or nature’s wonder. As such, Weng conveys his ideals and hopes for contemporary China, its migrants, workers, children, and families.
In particular, Weng is noted for his Sitting on the Wall series, epic images wherein schoolgirls perch atop brick, concrete, and foliage-covered barriers. With their backs to the camera, and likewise the viewer, they gaze out across rapidly developing urban centers such as Haikou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. These girls, on the cusp of adulthood, like their nation are in a moment of great transition.
Weng has exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Shanghai Art Museum, the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, the Mori Museum in Tokyo, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, the International Center of …
Themes of transformation, globalization, boundaries, and migration permeate the imagery of Chinese photographer Weng Fen (also known as Weng Peijun). In his understated pictures, vast, blue skies are predominately featured, and his compositions typically consist of an individual or small group of people, their backs to the camera. In some cases, these subjects look upon rising cityscapes, large bodies of water, or utopic natural landscapes, their bodies dwarfed by the scale and magnitude of their surroundings, whether that be human technology or nature’s wonder. As such, Weng conveys his ideals and hopes for contemporary China, its migrants, workers, children, and families.
In particular, Weng is noted for his Sitting on the Wall series, epic images wherein schoolgirls perch atop brick, concrete, and foliage-covered barriers. With their backs to the camera, and likewise the viewer, they gaze out across rapidly developing urban centers such as Haikou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. These girls, on the cusp of adulthood, like their nation are in a moment of great transition.
Weng has exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Shanghai Art Museum, the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, the Mori Museum in Tokyo, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, the International Center of Photography in New York, and the Singapore Art Museum.
Art Statements, Hong Kong and Tokyo
Pekin Fine Arts, Beijing, China
