Your name
Hui Choi
Place of birth
China
Place where you live now
Guangzhou, China
3 words to describe you
sentimental, mysterious, passionate
Why do you take pictures?
Hi, my name is Hui Choi. I'm a hair stylist and photographer. I am very grateful for this opportunity to share my story. I was born in Hubei, China, and now I run my own independent studio in Guangzhou. I've been in the hairdressing industry for more than ten years, since I was very young. During this time, I learned a lot about the fashion industry. It can be said that I have always been passionate about creation, and this kind of working environment enriches me with a lot of insights on photography. Meanwhile, I became more and more aware that the vision of the hairdressing industry is limited and that many commercial shooting productions were also limited. In 2017, I started to use the camera to take photos, but it was all about commercial work. Since 2018 I officially started publishing a large number of my personal photography work. I began to focus on social issues and the individual inner world, trying to find my own visual language in photography.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Photography is a means, usually with a further and deeper purpose and meaning. My works have a strong sense of emotion and privacy which is related to my own life experiences. I think photography is a very natural way of expression that is available to me. Photography helps me to express my emotions and understand the world, revealing the uniqueness and diversity of society and the state of an individual.
Who are your influences?
Sascha Weidner, Wolfgang Tillmans
What determines the subject matter you choose?
I reflect on myself by shooting portraits of different people. I use simple composition, soft light, and plain colors to capture true feelings. The emotional information contained in it is an echo to observe the close relationship between each other.
What impact would you like your art to have?
The purpose of photography is not to change lives but to understand life. It is what helps me in perceiving the flexible and turbulent side of life or the subtle flow, it also makes me aware of its healing effect, and allows learning of new things.
What artwork do you never get bored with?
poetry, photography, music
Is there anything you want to add?
I used to focus on fashion photography, but now I work on it less often. Fashion photography is influenced by trends, which means it's usually sharp and fierce, but I don’t think there is much conflict between fashion photography and art photography. Fashion photography is a business service, so you need to take responsibility working with customers, while with personal projects, it's all about passion, and you just need to do it for yourself, so that could allow for more freedom, removing the limitations.

Under Cloud
Project Statement

I have been silent for two years in a melancholy mood. After encountering changes in my family and marriage, my life trajectory has been completely changed. I used to think that marriage was the pinnacle of love, but after experiencing all of this, my views on marriage shifted. There has been a 360- degree change. In most cases in China, marriage is not absolutely by free will, and it often follows the standards and approval of parents. In China, people always say, "Marrying her is equal to marrying her whole family". The escalating conflict in my family took a huge toll on my life and that of my young daughter, so much so that I was in a state of anxiety and cut off from the outside world for long periods of time.
Under Cloud focuses on the phases of self-healing. By recording other relationships and the self-discovery of love, the work describes the complexity of my current relationship with the opposite sex in ambiguous image fragments. In the slightly painful atmosphere, the chain created a romantic and dramatic mood - the scorching sun, the stars, the floating lights, wrapped cold and flexible, more like the realization of emotions to be enriched in a spiritual world.

hui choi
@huichoi_com