Devouring photobooks #22 — Ren Hang by Ren Hang, published by Taschen
This article contains NSFW photographs
About the photographer
Born in Jilin, The People’s Republic of China. His photographic work is quite the contrast to the overall still repressed culture of the nation.
Ren’s work mostly feature naked, explicit photographs of his friends. The photographs were free-spirited, intimate, unapologetically explicit and refreshingly creative in this image saturated world.
His photography has been a controversial topic in China. His work has been listed as “indecent material” by the Chinese government and was banned from displaying in the public at some point.
Although Ren mentioned that he did not intent to create controversial / political work. Quoting from the foreword of the book “I won’t think too much about cultural and political background, nor do I try to challenge the limit (of the law). I just do what I want to do.”
Edit: As I was writing this article, looking at the photographs, I found Ren’s photographs have a resemblance to Ryan McGinley’s style (his name I failed to recall until now), although Ren’s are more moody and urban.
What do I think of the book
Genitals
I think most people who were first exposed to Ren’s photographs will be quite astonished by the prevalent of penises in his work. Normally in the “art world”, private parts are usually censored / hidden using shadows or other kind of techniques as directly showing genitals are deemed as distasteful or illegal in some contexts. Seeing Ren’s work, one would easily realise that he did not concur with this view, there are an abundance of penises as well as vaginas in around the same number.
I personally like Ren’s honesty towards the human nude. Although some might view his work as vulgar and distasteful, his openness enabled him to create works that others don’t dare to create, fearing that their work would attract criticism.
Reflection of Ren’s mental health
Looking at Ren’s photograph, they somehow reminded me of the “laying flat” phenomenon in China. For those who don’t know the term, it refers to the rising trend of young people in China simply giving up on life because they cannot afford housing, build a family, find an fulfilling job…etc.
I think it reminded me that is probably because the lack of expression of the people photographed. They are in all these strange, uncomfortable position in the photographs and yet their facial expression remains the same. Underneath the bizarre poses and nudity, I feel a hint of melancholy that seems to reflect the youth of modern China.
The expressionless, dead-inside expression seems to be a reflection to Ren’s inner self who has been suffering from depression his whole life. Every year, he updates his Weibo (Chinese Facebook equivalent) writing he wish to die this year. And his wish was granted in 2017, when he jumped off a building in Beijing.
Takeaway
His work certainly is controversial and sometimes difficult to give opinion on. They are art in some people’s eyes, pornography in others. But ultimately, I think the takeaway we all can learn from him is to have the courage to create the work that you want, for yourself.
Our voice might be drowned in the torrent of data that flows through our nerves and neurons everyday, swayed by trends and opinions in this age of information. Maybe what we need to do is to be honest to ourselves. Think what is it that we really want to create before we hop on the bandwagon of buying black mist filters, Contax T2s and taking gas station photos.
Thank you for reading.
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(Read more photobook musings here)
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