Below, we chat with Feng Li about White Night in Wonderland, artistic intuition, his desire to capture the life\u2019s \u201cabsurdities\u201d.<\/p>\n
For those who may not yet be familiar with your work, please could you describe the unique world you create within your photographs?<\/strong><\/p>\n Feng Li: <\/strong>I never think my vision is any different from anyone else\u2019s. I simply use my camera to record how I feel about the world, to recognise and respond to everything I see through personal experience. Some of these moments are absurd and comical, some are sharply satirical to the point of disbelief. Yet my photographs always carry a gentle reminder. I don\u2019t intend to change anything; I just want to show what I have seen.<\/p>\n Placing two photographs side by side can be a magical act; it instantly creates a story. What kinds of narratives, atmospheres, and ideas emerge from the presentation of your work in this exhibition?<\/strong><\/p>\n Feng Li: <\/strong>The juxtapositions bring forth something new, or they amplify what I intended to capture. My photographs are fragmented collections; I never impose themes or narrative structures on myself. And yet, there are always hidden intuitive connections, as if an invisible force led me to encounter images that echo one another.<\/p>\n For this exhibition, the display was decided with curator Holly Roussell. I had never before separated my work into clearly defined periods, because in my own view, I don\u2019t work in \u2018series\u2019 or \u2018projects\u2019. I just take photographs, and for me, they are all part of the same continuum. But I wanted to try, and I found it rewarding. We spent a great deal of time selecting the images and considering their sequence. I have so many photographs that the process was exhausting, but worthwhile.<\/p>\n I never impose themes or narrative structures on myself. And yet, there are always hidden intuitive connections, as if an invisible force led me to encounter images that echo one another \u2013 Feng Li<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n One gallery I find especially interesting is the one with White Night. Those large lightboxes contain very early works from 2005, when I was sent to the outskirts of Chengdu to photograph a newly built amusement park and construction site. The place was utterly surreal, and the experience transformed both me and my work. In the exhibition, those early black-and-white lightbox photographs are shown alongside later vertical colour images \u2013 an approach that grew from that encounter and reflects my ongoing desire to capture the absurd aspects of reality.<\/p>\n As a self-taught artist, what qualities do you feel you might have lost had you been formally trained in an academy?<\/strong><\/p>\n Feng Li: <\/strong>I never received formal art training, so I don\u2019t know exactly what I might have learned in an academy. My background was in medicine, but after graduation I never pursued that path. I believe education teaches you methods and tools \u2013 but how you use those tools to create is something only you can discover for yourself. In art, intuition is sometimes freer and more inventive than reason.<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"Feng](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1420881.jpg\")
\u00a9 Feng Li<\/p>\n\n
![\"Feng](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1420884.jpg\")
\u00a9 Feng Li<\/p>\n