Li Hui – Title unknown (201X)

Hui’s work feels to me like what you would get if you crossed Lina Scheynius’ work with Paula Aparicio’s–except that pollination (I’m sorry, sometimes I can’t help myself), would result in something significantly flatter than either of their either of their respective work taken independently.

Scheynius is ostensibly concerned with light and identity politics as they regard  the visual representation of self and the female bodied.

Aparicio, on the other hand, focuses on bearing witness to the beauty that comes part and parcel with trust, vulnerability and intimacy.

Both feature shades of documentary. Scheynius is more of a lifestyle/editorial/fashion subversive. Aparicio has more in common with Nan Goldin (although she works through a vastly different set of filters) and Scheynius is closer in pedigree to Cindy Sherman.

This is to say if Hui merely opted to borrow style and substances from both, it would likely be a mess; and–at best–a third rate homage to both.

What distinguishes Hui’s work–and I’m not sure I’m quite ready to commit to this completely, but I suspect her work might be better than both her progenitors–is that she’s using many overlapping tools to a very different end.

I’m friends with one of my favorite photographers, Lynn Kasztanovics–thanks Internet! We frequently discuss our frustrations with the rigidity of the current world of fine art photography. Specifically, the accepted wisdom w/r/t genre, i.e. street photography, landscape photography, portraiture, etc.

We don’t feel our work fits the framework because we’re less interested in dictums of genre and more interested in using photos the way a poet cobbles words together into a poem.

So while Hui is maybe not better than Scheynius or Aparicio–and I don’t completely think I’m being fair to the latter here (I do think that when her photos work, they are highly poetic)–I’m just more interested in the direction she’s headed.