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Photography (MA)

Xinran Liu | 刘欣然

Window by the sea in Cornwall
Selfie in front of the window
A sculpture of wood and candles
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Glasses on the edge of the table
Portrait by the window
 A candle burning on a triangular tattoo
The grass is illuminated by a ray of sunlight
Look straight into the camera
A candle burning on a chain

The winter in London arrives earlier and lasts longer than I had imagined. The darkness at 4pm is perfect for enclosing oneself, and the moment when the senses are infinitely magnified makes one fall into a silent breakdown.The cold outside freezes time, and even the sunshine sneaking in through the window cannot bring warmth. 

This work is heavily symbolic scenes interspersed——the sunlit windows, burning candles, seemingly stable triangles, staring or avoiding eyes. It is the condensation of life experience or expectation, the inheritance and reconstruction of memory, and the external expression of emotion. It is also an outgrowth of personal thought, observing society from individual experience, thinking beneath the surface of this well-ordered society regarding the pain of distant others, to hear the cries far away. 

Medium:

Photography

Size:

40x40cm
The man lying on the bed
The man with his back to the camera
Man in the rain
Pile wood in the toilet

Medium:

Photography

Xinran Liu (b.1999. China) is a photographer based in London. Most of her works start from self-analysis; she is always attracted to people or objects with sensitivity and vulnerability. She uses images, text, and objects as elements to construct meaning by blurring human emotions with harsh social realities.


Education:

MA Photography Royal College of Art 2023

BA Photography Nanjing University of the Arts 2021


Degree Details

School of Arts & HumanitiesPhotography (MA)RCA2023 at Truman Brewery

Truman Brewery, F Block, Ground, first and second floors

self-portrait

We live in an age of amnesia. We can see the big structures, and the hidden human relationships, but we can't see a single face, gesture, or expression, hear someone's voice, or even smell a particular smell.