Wu Hao‘s “3448 89th St” is an exploration of the new life Hao and his wife share in their Queens apartment. Hao studied television production in China and filmmaking in Japan, where he obtained an MFA. While Hao was studying, his then girlfriend was studying in the UK. After almost two yeras of a long distance relationship the couple moved back to China together, but did not live together. In 2012, they moved to New York, and at the end of the year they were married. This project began when they moved in together shortly thereafter. Hao told PDN via email, “‘3448 89th St'” is the place we live everyday, but also the stage [on which we make photographs]…. I try to balance the realism of documentary with the fictional of stage performance to achieve a stronger narrative.” Hao continued, “Our life is colored by strong gender differences as well as various pressures, such as being outsiders to a new culture. Thus we had gone through a rough time and our relationship used to be on the brink of collapse…[making photographs] is also a process for us to learn about love and acceptance.”
For more of Hao’s story, check out a recent article on PDNEDU.
Very interesting and another example of the blurring of distinction between documentary and the staged or fictional. Great light, colour and texture.
@Michael: Thanks for understanding. The balance between documentary & fictional is always the thing I’m exploring, no matter doing movie or still photography.
Beautiful photos. Is this all natural light or did you use other light?
It is said that fiction is a lie which tells the truth. I think the same can be said of staged photographs.
Thank you，Joanna. Acturely I use multi-lighting, it depends on what I want say in each image.
Congratulations, 非常好 ！