Liangyu Gao(高良钰), born in Zibo, China, is a photography student at the Royal College of Art, class of 2022.
He has a passion for motorbike travel and is interested in visual culture and anthropology (textual and visual ethnography).
Liangyu Gao
I used to look for those unknown landscapes on the road. In junior school, I had aspirations to be a sailor and was on a daily voyage to the other end of the world.
I went to many coastal areas on the main island of England to take some images of the sea. Before this, my thoughts were a bit jumbled and from 2022 onwards I began to think more seriously about what I was really seeking within myself. I asked myself, what were the questions I was asking and trying to solve in my previous artworks? Are they worth exploring and can they really be discussed effectively? Do I have enough experience and knowledge to validate them? I entered a dilemma myself and the journey about the sea gave me the opportunity to make a comfortable transition, which calmed me down and I enjoyed it.
Brighton
Southend-on-Sea
Newburgh 1
Newburgh 2
Margate 1
Margate 2
Dunbar
Land's end, Cornwall
Medium:
Photography100 Degrees East
I, who grew up in eastern China, set off on a long motorbike trip through western China with a film camera, 30 rolls of film and three duffel bags full of daily necessities and food. The route starts in Lanzhou City and follows the longitude line at 100 degrees East, passing through the high-altitude minority nomadic areas with low urbanisation to the medium-sized cities of Longnan, Bazhong and finally Chongqing, a first-tier city in China, covering 2,300 kilometres. The itinerary passes through China's second and third topographic terraces and the Hu Line, a line of contrasting population densities in China named after the famous Chinese geographer Hu Huanyong. The trip's progress shows the different ethnic living environments, cultural landscapes, and the development of urbanisation along the route. The final selection of 81 images is arranged in chronological order and presented in a photo book format.
Part of the Photobook
