He continued: “During my studies, I realized that the history of minority representation was inevitably fraught with racism. A series of questions thus became the basis of my work: ‘Who controls the discourse? ?Who has the power to shape our desires and ideologies? Context, even spatial context, is essential to me as I try to achieve something close to the real.”
Xu’s photographic practice exists at the intersection of performance art and site-specific installations. In his images, space is always multidimensional and jagged, while identities in his scenes are multiple and compounded—like many of the identities of the PhotoVogue artists represented here.
“Depending on how it is used, photography can be a tool of manipulation, truth, knowledge, desire, realism, and power,” concluded Xu. “That’s why I’m interested in the politics of images inside and outside the frame, and that’s why I tend to combine indoor and outdoor spaces in my work. The places I place them are always specific and symbolic – like in temples Or in a church.”
In these collages for Vogue Italia, we get a glimpse of his slow pace in the fashion world. New space opened up slowly. Utopia, of course, is still only a glimmer of hope — but it’s closer than it seems.
Chiara Bardelli Nonino
Thanks to: Aart Verrips , Adeoglu Osibodu, Alexander Jantushev, Amy Wood Ward, Blessing Attas, Henriette Sabro Ebsen, Jade Lily, Kin C, Lisa Sogini, Chiemeka Ofor, Franklin Epp, Harman Mesma , Irina Vening, Mattia de Benedictis, Mauricio Holker, Michael Liani, Olga de la Iglesia, Rodrigo Oliveira, Rona & Ofek, Salomé Gomis-Trezise, Supranav Dash, Tirtha Lawati, Vikram Kushwah, Ye Fan.
