Discovery Award

The 2025 Jimei × Arles International Photo Festival Awards Ceremony was held this afternoon at Three Shadows Xiamen Photography Art Centre.

Artist Hu Weiyi, nominated by X Contemporary Art, received the 2025 Jimei × Arles Discovery Award for his work The Inner Obscura. Zhuang Zhihui, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jimei District Committee and Head of the Publicity Department, presented the award certificate to the artist. RongRong&inri presented the RMB 100,000 (pre-tax) cash prize supported by the Cathay Capital. In 2026, Hu Weiyi will be invited to hold a solo exhibition at Les Rencontres d'Arles in France.

Guests attending the award ceremony include:

Zhuang Zhihui, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jimei District Committee and Head of the Publicity Department;

He Qingyu, Chairman of the Jimei District Federation of Literary and Arts;

Bas Vroege, curator, producer, and Founder & Director of Paradox;

Cao Dan, senior art journalist, curator, and documentary film director;

RongRong&inri, Co-founders of Three Shadows Photography Art Centre;

Cui Can, Art Director and Curator of M Art Center;

Huang Yunhe, Director and Curator of OFOTO & ANART;

Qu Shiwen, Director of the Beijing space of see+ Gallery;

Zhou Yong, Representative and curator of Tianfu Image Art Center · May Park Gallery;

Wang Xi, Artistic Director and Curator of X Contemporary Art;

Lu Zhiyong, Operational Director of Three Shadows;

Teng Qingyun, Executive Director of Three Shadows Xiamen Photography Art Centre and Executive Director of Jimei × Arles International Photo Festival,

together with nearly one hundred guests.

The winner of the award was announced by juror Bas Vroege, and juror Cao Dan delivered the jury's citation: "The jury believes that in The Inner Obscura, Hu Weiyi dissolves his own gastric acid into the chemical solution used for developing film in darkroom, introducing an unpredictable intervention into images of mountains and natural landscapes through the most intimate of bodily fluids. Through embodied physical pain and individual trauma, the artist retraces the origins of image production and re-examines the ethical relationship between photographer and subject, and between art and technology. At a time when digital imagery pursues visual spectacle, he uses the human body as a medium to push the boundaries of art, allowing life, nature, and the act of creation to generate new meanings and new visual worlds through continuous digestion and transformation."

Artist Hu Weiyi delivered an acceptance speech on stage: "Art is not meant for ranking or comparison. I am honoured to receive this award, but I do not wish for it to become a evaluation benchmark for what counts as a 'good' work. I hope that image-based arts will become increasingly diverse in the future, and that I, together with the artists participating in this year's Discovery Award, can continue to learn from and engage with one another, so that better developments may emerge in the years to come."

The nominated artists for this year's Jimei × Arles Discovery Award are:

Gao Yutao, Fu Bailin (nominated by M Art Center);

Xu Xiaowei, Cao Mengqin (nominated by OFOTO & ANART);

Wang Juyan (nominated by see+ Gallery);

Gao Mingxi (nominated by Tianfu Image Art Center · May Park Gallery);

Jiang Pengyi, Hu Weiyi (nominated by X Contemporary Art).

The 2025 Jimei × Arles Discovery Award Jury are:

Bas Vroege, founder and director of Paradox (Netherlands);

Christoph Wiesner, Director of the Rencontres d'Arles (France);

Cao Dan, senior art media professional, curator, and documentary director;

Gu Zheng, curator, critic, and Professor at the School of Journalism, Shanghai Fudan University;

RongRong&inri, Co-founders of Three Shadows Photography Art Centre.