Your name
Leslie Shang Zhefeng
Place of birth
Shaanxi Province, China.
Place where you live now
Xi'an, China
3 words to describe you
Wandering between sensibility and reason, sticking to one's heart, sometimes pursuing perfection.
Why do you take pictures?
Taking photos happened at the most chaotic and lonely time in my life. The appearance of the camera undoubtedly adds happiness to my life. It is not only the choice of career direction but also the ideal that I love most in my heart.
Where do you get your inspiration?
In the early stage, my visual composition was formed by the accumulation of traditional Chinese aesthetics, and later, through more contact with society, I paid attention to the individual, environment and politics.
Who are your influences?
When I learned about the history of photography in the world, Bernd & Hilla Becher were one of my influences. Japanese photography was also very important to me, kind of photography enlightenment.
What determines the subject matter you choose?
It is a kind of intimacy in blood after returning to the family and hometown, a curiosity about the origin of my grandfather's identity, and more importantly, an understanding of the different lives of several generations in China.
What impact would you like your art to have?
For me, the shooting process of this work is a review of my family history and a new understanding of my own life. As for what will happen to viewers, I have not thought about it, but I have received letters from Chinese people who think that this work is like the film "To Live" directed by Zhang Yimou. I am looking forward to receiving comments from viewers of different cultures.
What artwork do you never get bored with?
I like to visit the antique market. For example, I will find painted dressing boxes, ancient pottery pots, wood carvings, folk handicrafts, etc., and other works of art, which are very interesting to me.
Is there anything you want to add?
Looking forward to see-zeen magazine getting better and better!

Cypres Slope
Project statement

Cypress Slope is a project named after my hometown. It presents my family’s origins by collecting information in Baoji, Shaanxi, a rural village in western China. What the last four generations of my family experienced tells a story of the identity of ordinary Chinese families in the last century. 

Through the research of my own family history and using old photos, letters, video screenshots, interviews and surveys as clues, the life experience of four generations is linked together, and the life history of ordinary Chinese families is narrated. 
It has been confirmed that my ancestors came from the Big Locust tree in Hongdong, Shanxi Province, 600 years ago. After several migrations, they settled on Cypress Slope. My great-grandfather mortgaged his house because he was addicted to opium and eventually sold his house to pay for his addiction. After my grandfather was born, my great grandmother had no breastmilk to feed him so my great grandfather had to find a wet nurse in the village of Cypress Slope. My grandfather stayed on in Cypress Slope as an adult and raised a family.

@leslieshang_