CICA Museum, M Gallery
November 15 – 19, 2023
2023.11.15 – 19
7th Month Populace
What is life and what is death?
One moment we are here, and then we are gone.
That is the reality of life.
In Chinese Folk Culture, the 7th month in the Lunar Calendar is known as the Hungry Ghost Month. It is believed that the gates of hell open during this period. A period when humans and spirits walk as one on Earth.
What was once dead is now amongst the living, what is living will someday be amongst the dead.
This is the circle of life.
The photographs presented in this project consist of street portraits of people who gather at Ge-Tai shows (popular song and dance shows) that are held during the lunar 7th month to appease the spirits.
Hand-held long exposures create an exaggerated sense of movement and softness. The deliberate tight cropping of each photograph makes the grain of the negative much more pronounced, making the subjects look almost like ash and dust.
Through this project, I meditate on the meaning of life and after and explore the reality and concept of living and death.
Born and raised in Singapore, Zhou HanShun is a Photographer, Artist, and Art Director.
After graduating from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore and RMIT University, he made a living as an Art Director and continues pursuing his passion as a visual storyteller and photographer.
His photography explores humanity, culture, and spirituality in urban spaces and the natural environment. HanShun often photographs with intuition and creates work with a sense of spontaneity.
HanShun has exhibited at the Revela’T Contemporary Analog Photography Festival (2020), LiShui Photography Festival (2019), Mt. Rokko International Photography Festival (2019), KG+ Kyotographie Satellite Event (2022 & 2018), Tumbas Cultural Center in Thessaloniki, Greece for Photoeidolo (2017), the Molekyl Gallery in Sweden, for the Malmo Fotobiennal (2017), the Gallery under Theater in Bratislava, Slovakia for The Month of Photography Bratislava(2017), the Czech China Contemporary Museum in Beijing for the SongZhuang International Photo Biennale(2017), the PhotoMetria “Parallel Voices” exhibition in Greece (2016), the Addis FotoFest in Ethiopia (2016), among others.
HanShun was awarded 3rd Prize at the Mt. Rokko International Photography Festival (2019), a Special Mention at the Balkan Photo Festival (2016), was Shortlisted for the Hariban Award (2019, 2018, and 2017), and was a finalist for Photolucida Critical Mass (2016), among others.
