honorable mention
LISA POWERS new zealand
title
WanRong: The Last Chinese Empress
I re-created a 'photographic portrait/history' of WanRong after I learned of her short, tragic life.
WanRong was selected to marry Emperor PuYi when she was just 16 and endured exile by the Japanese and internment by the Chinese Communists while PuYi fled for his life, leaving her behind. She gave birth to a baby girl but the child was either killed by PuYi or given away. She became severely depressed and addicted to opium. She died of starvation in prison and her remains were never found.
I hope, with my re-creation images, to give her the recognition she never received in life.
These images are exhibited at Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery till 1st September, 2019.
I began learning photography when I quit my day-job as proof-reader in a small advertising agency for a job as the cleaner/janitor in a large commercial photo studio. My ambition was to become a professional freelance commercial photographer and I learned by watching the studio photographers shoot in the daytime, then shooting for myself with models at night. I learned more by artistic experimentation than technical correctness since I had no technical knowledge. This was in the film era, long before digital cameras.
For the next thirty years I was one of the few women working successfully in commercial photography, an industry which was/still is largely male-dominated.
In 2005 I did the “BIG SCARY” thing… I relocated with my four kitties from New York to New Zealand. It took a while for the dust and kitty litter to settle but when it did I took my photography in a new direction: Fine Art.
I don’t capture pictures, I create them from nothing in my studio… not as one would perceive them in reality but as imagined images. To do this, I build from an idea. Choosing the right model to direct is crucial. I am completely self-taught and perhaps because of that, I am fearless. I love mixing analogue film elements with digital effects.
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entry description
I've always had a special fascination for Imperial China which inspired my new project: “WanRong: The Last Chinese Empress”.I re-created a 'photographic portrait/history' of WanRong after I learned of her short, tragic life.
WanRong was selected to marry Emperor PuYi when she was just 16 and endured exile by the Japanese and internment by the Chinese Communists while PuYi fled for his life, leaving her behind. She gave birth to a baby girl but the child was either killed by PuYi or given away. She became severely depressed and addicted to opium. She died of starvation in prison and her remains were never found.
I hope, with my re-creation images, to give her the recognition she never received in life.
These images are exhibited at Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery till 1st September, 2019.
about the photographer
I was born in the south of France. My family and I moved to New York when I was ten years old.I began learning photography when I quit my day-job as proof-reader in a small advertising agency for a job as the cleaner/janitor in a large commercial photo studio. My ambition was to become a professional freelance commercial photographer and I learned by watching the studio photographers shoot in the daytime, then shooting for myself with models at night. I learned more by artistic experimentation than technical correctness since I had no technical knowledge. This was in the film era, long before digital cameras.
For the next thirty years I was one of the few women working successfully in commercial photography, an industry which was/still is largely male-dominated.
In 2005 I did the “BIG SCARY” thing… I relocated with my four kitties from New York to New Zealand. It took a while for the dust and kitty litter to settle but when it did I took my photography in a new direction: Fine Art.
I don’t capture pictures, I create them from nothing in my studio… not as one would perceive them in reality but as imagined images. To do this, I build from an idea. Choosing the right model to direct is crucial. I am completely self-taught and perhaps because of that, I am fearless. I love mixing analogue film elements with digital effects.
back to gallery
