Beneath the Surface, Upon the Surface: Images, Traces and the Unseen

Beneath the Surface, Upon the Surface: Images, Traces and the Unseen 

“My photographs don’t go below the surface. They don’t go below anything. They’re readings of the surface. I have great faith in surfaces. A good one is full of clues.”
— Richard Avedon 

Avedon understood the surface as something to be read. A face, a piece of clothing, a gesture, the texture of an object, the quality of light within a space, a scratch, or the smallest movement can all become clues. Photography begins with what is visible, and meaning often unfolds gradually from there. 

"Beneath the Surface, Upon the Surface: Images, Traces and the Unseen" begins from a similar way of looking. Light falls on skin, architecture, landscapes, screens and photographic paper, passing through lenses and materials before leaving behind an image. We see a moment, a place, an object; around them gather memory, emotion, identity, history, technology and time. These things rarely enter the frame in their entirety. Instead, they make themselves felt through traces, absences, repetitions and transformations. 

The exhibition brings together current students and alumni from across the photography programmes at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. The participating artists are at different stages of their education and creative practice, working across documentary and fine art photography, moving image, experimental darkroom processes, performance, archives and installation. Their different approaches meet within the same space, opening photography towards a broader field of practice. The camera records the visible world; photographic paper and other materials retain the processes of making; screens reshape the conditions of viewing; bodies, spaces and duration gradually become part of the image itself. 

“Beneath the surface” describes a direction of looking. Unspoken exchanges between family members, attachments accumulated between people and their hometowns, places held within personal memory, fading local customs, and habits of seeing inherited from history and culture can all emerge through a photograph, a space or a material trace. “Upon the surface” brings our attention back to the media through which these meanings take form. Photographic paper peels and deteriorates; images are copied and repeated; screens emit light; architectural forms are displaced and renamed. When a photograph enters a new context, it also becomes available to another reading. 

Many of the works in this exhibition begin with highly specific experiences. Encounters across villages in Guizhou gradually become observations of distance, family and intimacy. An everyday phrase spoken around a dining table opens onto questions of love, sacrifice and responsibility between generations. Spaces and symbols preserved within coastal architecture carry memories of place and traces of disappearing local traditions. Chinoiserie architecture situated within a British landscape brings histories of Orientalist imagination, reproduction and looking back into view. Elsewhere, light trails left by phone screens, bodies reflected in mirrors, slowly melting ice, repeated images, and photographic paper altered through chemical processes register the passage of time through bodies and materials.

The works differ greatly in visual language, yet they share a sensitivity to traces. Experience leaves traces. Time leaves traces. Looking itself leaves traces. Some remain clear; others have faded. Some can only be sensed through what they have left behind. These works originated in different places and circumstances, yet became connected through shared experiences of studying, making and developing artistic practices. Now, travelling from London to Xiamen, they enter another language, geography and context of viewing. Their images begin another life. 

Returning to Avedon’s idea of the “clue”, perhaps this offers a way of approaching the exhibition: to spend a little longer with what appears on the surface, and to follow a beam of light, a mark, a material or a gesture a little further. What remains unspoken may already be present within these details. 

We invite you to spend time with these works: to look at a photograph and also at what it has left unfinished; to attend to what has already become visible, and to notice what continues to unfold, slowly and quietly, beneath the surface. 

ARTIST: Zhang Gigi

Zhang Gigi(, b. 1999, Kunming, Yunnan) is a London-based Chinese artist working across photography, moving image, and installation. She holds a BA in Philosophy and Music from Bard College in New York, during which she studied philosophical aesthetics as a visiting student at the University of Oxford. She subsequently obtained her MA in Fine Art Photography from London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Following her graduation, she has been active in London as part of the photographic collective dg03.

Through projection, alternative photographic processes, and material experimentation, her practice employs images to examine how diverse social contexts, migratory experiences, and family histories collectively shape the self. Oscillating between self-portraiture and intergenerational narrative, her work explores the hidden distance between the socially constructed self and internal perception.

Her work has been exhibited at Copeland Gallery, Four Corners Gallery, Photofusion Gallery, and The Glasgow Gallery of Photography in London; the UNESCO Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona; and the Lishui Photography Festival, among others. She has also participated in The Emergence Project in Glasgow and was shortlisted for the Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards (KLPA).

ARTIST: Xu Zhongren

Xu Zhongren (b. 1999, Zunyi, Guizhou) is currently pursuing his degree in the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography program at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. He lives and works between London, UK, and Guizhou, China.

Centered on documentary photography, his practice continuously examines the interdependence, dialogue, and symbiotic relationship between humanity and nature. Deeply rooted in Guizhou, Xu employs field observation and immersive engagement to build enduring connections with local communities. Through his imagery, he captures the mutual shaping of land, everyday life, and people, presenting an authentic convergence of regional culture, lived experience, and the natural environment.

Through cross-regional study and artistic practice, Xu seeks to initiate a dialogue between an international perspective and localized experience. Utilizing a calm and authentic visual language, he conducts long-term documentary projects that explore the power of photography as a medium for observation, understanding, and connection. His work has been exhibited at Copeland Gallery and Four Corners Gallery in London.

ARTIST: Xu Yulai

Xu Yulai (b. Hunan; based in Ningbo, Zhejiang) holds a BA from Chung-Ang University in South Korea and an MA in Commercial Photography from London College of Communication, University of the Arts London.

His photographic practice focuses on the complexity and emotional tensions of familial relationships in contemporary Chinese society, with a particular emphasis on how individual identity is formed and negotiated amid social transformation and the restructuring of family units. Xu's visual language is restrained yet insightful; through a gentle yet detached perspective, he examines the conflict and synthesis between traditional values and modern consciousness. Often evoking subtle emotional shifts within quiet atmospheres, his work employs photography as a sociological gaze and reflection on personal growth, intergenerational dynamics, and modes of emotional expression. His work has been exhibited at the Lishui Photography Festival, Rotterdam Photo, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, and Somerset House in London.

ARTIST: Shi Zhanyi

Shi Zhanyi works primarily with photography and moving image. Rooted in observations and experiences of daily life, his practice focuses on the relationship between images and reality, as well as how acts of viewing and framing alter our perception and understanding of the world around us.

ARTIST: Li Lingshuo

Li Lingshuo is a Beijing-based visual artist whose practice explores the intersection of photography, printmaking, and materiality. Engaging with community research, local narratives, and historical blind spots, he transforms collective memory into tactile physical works to investigate histories and memories that, while forgotten or faded, remain palpable. His practice spans darkroom printing, lithography, silkscreen printing, and intaglio.

ARTIST: Jiang Long

Jiang Long (b. 2001, Shanghai) is a photographer and visual artist. He holds a B.Eng from the School of Computer Engineering and Science at Shanghai University and is currently pursuing his MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Working across photography, technical images, computational photography, and silver gelatin / alternative photographic processes, his practice is dedicated to expressing the shared human experiences unearthed from the repetitive cycles of daily life.

ARTIST: Wang Sio

Wang Sio (Wang Shuaiqi) is a photographer and visual effects artist currently based in Beijing, working in film and television visual effects production. He holds an MA in Photography from London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. His artistic practice revolves around performance, time, and hard-to-observe psychological experiences, exploring how to transform ongoing processes and invisible perceptions into visible visual forms. Spanning photography, performance, installation, and digital media, his work employs visual experimentation and symbolic imagery to examine the interconnections between time, action, and meaning.

ARTIST: Bai Lei

Bai Lei (b. 2002, Xiamen, Fujian) holds a BA in Photography from London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, where he is currently pursuing his MA in Photography. Working primarily with analog photography and video installation, his practice continuously explores the contemporary possibilities of alternative photographic processes. He is currently working on a long-term photographic project set in the ethnic minority regions of Sichuan, China.

ARTIST: Chen Jiyang

Chen Jiyang (b. 2001, Xiamen, Fujian) graduated with a bachelor's degree from the School of TV and Film at Communication University of China and is currently pursuing his degree in the MA Photography program at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Working as a photographic artist, Chen tends to start from minute, concrete, and everyday entry points. Through observation and inquiry into himself, others, and the surrounding world, his practice uncovers the underlying motivations and truths behind everyday behaviors.

ARTIST: Chen Yuxing

Chen Yuxing (b. 1998, China) is an artist based between London and Shanghai whose work critically examines the significance of Chinoiserie in both historical and contemporary contexts. Through her photographic practice, she investigates how Orientalism is adopted, romanticized, and continuously reproduced within the Western imagination. Her practice centers on decolonization, cultural difference, and exoticized modes of seeing, thereby challenging dominant narratives and systems of visual representation.

She is the recipient of the Royal Photographic Society's International Photography Exhibition (IPE) Award and the Kunpeng Award at the Pingyao International Photography Festival. Her work was selected for TOP 20 Chinese Cutting-Edge Photographers and shortlisted for the Grand Prix Images Vevey in Switzerland. She has exhibited widely, including at the Copenhagen Photo Festival, Athens Photo Festival, PhMuseum Days International Photo Festival, and the 9th Singapore International Photography Festival, among others. Her practice has been featured in international publications such as British Journal of Photography, Chinese Photography, GUP Magazine, and other media outlets.

Curator: Liu Haohui

Liu Haohui is a curator, visual artist, and photography educator born in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, and currently based in London. Rooted in photography, his practice extends to book design and production, archives, historical printing processes, as well as algorithmic and digital media. His work examines how images operate beyond their surface: the mechanisms through which they are produced, circulated, viewed, and reinterpreted, and how materials, technologies, memory, the body, and social contexts collectively shape the formation of meaning. 

As part of an emerging generation of photographers and creators, his curatorial practice is dedicated to introducing photographers from diverse backgrounds and career stages to audiences and the broader industry, while fostering a tight-knit and supportive community among practitioners. He views curating as an act of connection—utilizing exhibitions, discussions, and collaborative projects to encourage artists to meet, share resources, exchange experiences, and grow together. Through this, he aims to provide greater visibility and discourse for experimental, evolving photographic practices. 

Alongside his creative and curatorial practice, Liu is a Lecturer and Photography Technician at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London (UAL), where he is also pursuing his PhD. His research and teaching further expand his engagement with contemporary photography, digital image culture, and the evolving nature of the medium.

ARTIST/Curator: Xia Tian

Xia Tian (b. 1999) is a documentary photographer and visual artist currently based in Xiamen. She holds an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from London College of Communication (LCC), University of the Arts London. She is the founder and director of White Crow Darkroom, and has contributed to the curation and presentation of this exhibition. 

Her practice explores the intersection of memory, environment, and human perception, using photography and text to examine the evolving relationships between humanity, nature, and space. Working fluidly between documentary methods and poetic narrative, she views image-making as a parallel process of research, perception, and reflection, tracing the emotional, temporal, and spiritual vestiges that linger between the visible and the invisible. Through White Crow Darkroom, she engages in traditional darkroom processes, fine art printing, and visual education, continuously investigating the full lifecycle of photography from viewing and making to presenting.