From issue: #27 Emerging Talent
Shaohan Fang, En Route
In En Route, Shaohan Fang creates a series of staged photographs that reflect her search for direction in the space between expectation and reality. Once envisioning a life that would follow a clear path toward stability and meaning, she now finds herself approaching her thirties without that certainty, still searching for something that feels like home.
The photographs portray moments of quiet uncertainty. A young woman appears in temporary spaces, often accompanied by a suitcase in the corner, hinting at transience and the inability to settle. These interiors carry subtle contrasts between what has been given and what can be afforded, evoking a tension between aspiration and reality. The work asks whether the idea of home is something we ever truly attain, or whether it is shaped by cultural expectation and always slightly out of reach. In this context, transition itself may be the constant.
Fang’s practice focuses on the emotional and social realities faced by women today, often drawing on her own experiences. Born in Fujian, China, she is a visual artist working with photography and installation. She holds an MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and previously earned a master’s degree in engineering and a double degree in photography from the Communication University of China. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Paris and Beijing.
Awarded the Spectrum Photographic Prize
