Leslie Zhang: Kaleidoscope of Chinese Culture

Artistic Background

26 Year Old Shanghai-based, Leslie Zhang (Zhang Jiacheng) may be classed as a fashion photographer, however, his work that spans a five year period include portraiture and still life, and is much more than just a cultural show of sorts.

Zhang grew up in Eastern China in the Yangzhou and Nanjing regions. While studying film editing at a local university, he discovered the world of photography and in essence, the rest seems to be history. Like any modern aged photographer, Leslie found social media to be the perfect platform to showcase his work and get feedback from like-minded individuals.

Nostalgic Portraits

Leslie has spent a large part of his photographic career focussing on iconic Eastern Chinese culture in the ‘80s & ‘90s; which lends his style to a certain surreal nostalgia. The photographer cites his image selection and photographic process to be driven by things that he has the most intimate emotional connection to; which are his childhood memories of growing up in Eastern China.

Chinese Beauty in Photography Work of Leslie Zhang

It is Zhang’s ability to recreate the moods and ambiance of these memories into visual imagery that one finds so captivating. Each image tantalizes our minds and urges us to purge ourselves of all cultural mindsets and rather to embrace different cultural identities with vivacity.

Additionally, the photographic color palette offers bold primary colors which are synonymous with traditional Chinese culture. Zhang has certainly come a long way from his first works where it was all about staying within the contemporary fashion guidelines; now he vies to ensure that he is portraying the celebration of those small things in our daily lives that keep a little romance brewing in each and every moment.

Inspiration to live life wholeheartedly and certainly continue building memories that will have us reminiscing in our own way; whether it be through the eyes of a photographer such as Leslie Zhang or our own.