Zhang Xiao Prints

Zhang Xiao was born in Yantai City in the Shandong Province of China. After studying Architecture at Yantai University he took up photography and worked for the Chongqing Morning Post, where he worked as a staff photographer until 2009.

His style of journalism is unconventional. Shooting on film and hand printing his photographs Zhang Xiao produces images that are dreamlike, detached from the action. Printed in muted tones he has documented a Chinese culture in the midst of social upheaval.

His series "They I", "They II", and "They III", first shown at the 2009 FORMAT International Photography Festival present the traditions of the older generation set against the spirit of youth. Whimsical and intimate they offer an alternative view to that of the mega cities and manual labourers so often depicted in images of China.

Zhang Xiao has quickly attracted attention and has participated in several international photography festivals, winning the Houdengke Documentary Photography Award 2009; the Three Shadows Photography Award 2010, Beijing and the Southern Documentary Photography Award 2010. He was also a winner of the Photography Talent Award in France in 2010.

Zhang Xiao currently lives and works in Chongqing as a freelance photographer and continues his observations of an ever changing China.

Talking about his photography, Zhang Xiao says..."I prefer observing the world in my own way than intervening in or arranging characters in my pictures, I do not want to disturb them. But at that moment, I always can observe their difference. That's all I seek."