Chinese girls in disarming and candid photos by photographer Luo Yang

In 2012, Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei named her one of the rising stars of Chinese photography. Photographer Luo Yang from Beijing is gaining international recognition with candid pictures of women in modern China.

The GIRLS photo project ("Girls") began in 2007 as a purely personal series of pictures: in her heroines, Luo Yang observed doubts and emotions very similar to her own. Among the intimate photographs included in the series, there are both carefully thought-out portraits of representatives of the emerging Chinese subculture, which defy the expectations of the viewer, and fleeting, raw, blurred, but beautiful shots in their own way.

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Source: Feature Shoot

The photographer simultaneously manages to convey the defiant nature of his girls, their composure, as well as fragility, shyness and self-doubt. Luo Yang says, "I can't say that they are a completely new generation of women in China, but they definitely represent independence and freedom."

The girls who starred in the photo project are friends or acquaintances of friends; some are just strangers or people whom the photographer found on the Internet. The intuitive dialogue between the photographer and the models, which made Luo Yang's project fruitful, also allowed her to better understand herself. Luo Yang discovered that, putting aside the difference in life circumstances and stories, she and her heroines have similar character traits, questions, feelings, weaknesses and misconceptions. At the same time, the ambivalent emotions and passions that animate Luo Yang's photographs point to the individuality of the girls and suggest changes in the perception of femininity and one's own identity in modern China.

"Every frame is very natural. We chat, I go to visit them, we play and relax together. In fact, I'm trying to observe and understand, which means that I have to approach them very casually. With some, I can catch real moments within the framework of one shoot, and with others I need several attempts," says the author of the photo project.

The intimate moments in Luo Yang's photographs show the trust gained in conversations and photo shoots, which allows the heroines to feel comfortable in front of the camera. Many of the girls are naked or more naked than you might expect.

This vulnerable state, which usually remains outside the public sphere, is contrasted with public spaces in the city. In other shots, the girls are depicted with their men behind the curtains of their homes. Their sincerity in front of the camera is a reminder of women's independence, which is all the more significant when compared with the expectations of women in a traditionally patriarchal society.

Luo Yang believes that the situation for women in China is improving, and hopes that she will be able to unite with those who defy the expectations of society. "I think they are braver than me. They do things I don't have the guts to do. Perhaps we have different values and worldviews, but we are united by the fragility and courage within us, we meet the world face to face sincerely. Filming their life is like filming mine. Only the world seems bigger to me."