Biography
Yuxing completed MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography in 2022. Yuxing is an an Editorial Coordinator at the Female Photography Foundation.
Interview
You graduated from MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography in 2022. What was the most important learning you took from the course?
I graduated from MAPJD in December 2022. One of the most important things I learned was how to think critically about photography as a medium. This way of thinking has had a lasting impact on my practice and helped shape the research direction I continue to pursue today.
What was a highlight from your time at LCC?
One of the things I miss most about LCC is the access to its facilities, particularly the printing and book arts workshops. Beyond the course itself, I was able to learn many practical skills that continue to inform how I make and present my work.
I also really valued the discussions within our small group. Hearing how other people approached images, research, and storytelling was always stimulating and often made me reconsider my own way of working.
How did your major project help you when you graduated?
My major project became the foundation of my artistic practice after graduating. It received recognition through exhibitions, awards, publications, and festivals internationally. More importantly, it gave me a research framework that I have continued to develop and expand over the past few years.
You are now an Editorial Coordinator at the Female Photography Foundation, as well as an artist. Can you tell us more about your role?
I am currently an Editorial Coordinator at the Female Photography Foundation, alongside my own practice as an artist. My role involves coordinating editorial projects focused on women in photography, working with writers and editors, reviewing bilingual research materials, and helping to develop our growing archive of photographers and scholars.
How do you see the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography ethos reflected in the work you do?
For me, the MAPJD ethos was never simply about producing documentary photographs, but about questioning what documentary practice can be and how photographers position themselves in relation to their subjects, histories, and audiences. That critical approach continues to shape both my artistic and editorial work.
What’s the most exciting or fulfilling aspect of your current work?
What I find most fulfilling is being able to continue developing the questions that began during my MA, while exploring them through photography, archival research and writing.
Have you won any awards or residencies or grants since leaving the course?
Since graduating, I have received the IPE Award at the Royal Photographic Society’s International Photography Exhibition 165 and the Kunpeng Award at Pingyao International Photography Festival.
My work has also been selected for TOP 20 Chinese Contemporary Photography and shortlisted for several international awards, including the Encontros da Imagem Discovery Award, KG+ Discovery Award, Grand Prix Images Vevey, and nominated for the C/O Berlin Talent Award. These opportunities have also led to my work being exhibited at photography festivals and institutions internationally.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently developing my doctoral research around the questions that emerged from The Oriental Scene, my major project at MAPJD. My research examines Chinoiserie and the ways ideas of “Chineseness” have been imagined, circulated and reproduced within Western visual culture, particularly through architecture, photography and archives.
While continuing to develop my photographic practice, I am expanding this research into a broader investigation of cultural memory, Orientalism and the politics of representation.
Image credit: Yuxing Chen