Hong Ying introduces her photography works on display in Beijing on September 28.

Renowned writer and poet Hong Ying has once again expanded her artistic repertoire. On September 28, an exhibition of her photography works opened at the Yuan Museum in Beijing, showcasing 60 selected pieces from her extensive collections spanning several decades. It was only in 2021 that she ventured into filmmaking, with her debut film, Moonlight Warrior, garnering accolades and awards in the US.

The photography exhibit, How to Become a Fish, got its name from her autobiography-based novel, Daughter of the River. Hong Ying, whose original name is Chen Hongying, was born and raised in Chongqing Municipality along the Yangtze River in Southwest China, and she wrote in the novel that the Yangtze River gave her a life like a fish.

The photography works on display were taken around the world, including Italy, Britain and Japan. They were grouped into three parts: water, the world and spirit.

For Hong, photography is more comparable to poetry than to a novel or a film. She said that photography is about how she feels and how she expresses those feelings. It's about recreating her dreams and memories, which is why all the works on display tend to give the audience a floating feeling.

Hong Ying once said that she was like a fixed-focused lens, and everything in the world was full of huge streams, all of which were mirrors in her heart.

Luo Yi, the curator of this exhibition, said that these photography works perfectly visualize her feelings and the transient images that sprout from her head when reading Hong's novels over the past two decades. The images from Hong's works are mesmerizing - the flower stamens that emit spells, the dead souls under the big trees, the speechless Buddhist monks, the self-marked women's bodies, the spines of exotic teenagers and the quiet light in the children's eyes, Luo said.

Global Times