Lean Lui
LEAN LUI HAS DEVELOPED A SENSUAL, CORPORAL, AND DREAMY STYLE THAT SHE SUCCESSFULLY TRANSPORTS FROM HER ARTISTIC AND PERSONAL SPHERE THROUGH TO HER COMMERCIAL PRACTICE WITH RELATIVELY MINIMAL INTERVENTION.
Based in Hong Kong and London, Lean’s work has been widely exhibited, including the 2018 Hong Kong International Photo Festival, and the 2019 Beijing Three Shadow Photo Award (where she was the youngest ever participant to be exhibited). Having shot for Dior Magazine, Vogue, i-D, Chanel, Alexander McQueen, and Gucci, Lean’s blossoming career has not waylaid her personal practice, which includes self-publishing a book <19. 29>, and continuing to shoot, exhibit, study, and develop. Her subjects and thematic concerns are those approximate to most of us: friends, family, and the connections between our inner and outer worlds, real and imagined—concerns that feel especially urgent right now. TSUKI asked Lean about this gallery she made, as well as her current life under lockdown in Hong Kong.
HOW DO YOU MAKE WORK FROM HOME? HAS THIS BEEN DIFFERENT FROM YOUR REGULAR PROCESS?
There’s no difference in my personal work since most of the time it is created from home. I live with my sister, who often shows up in my pictures, so I have a model with me most of the time, and there’s a forest behind my home which I regard as my natural studio. I love natural lighting, and rarely use a studio. But it does limit the commercial work I do because I usually need to fly to different places for shoots.
HAS THIS SITUATION ENCOURAGED OR EVEN DEMANDED THAT YOU TRY SOMETHING NEW?
Yes, I’ve had more time to create work in this situation, and I got to try out many ideas that I’ve been wanting to try. Also, having more time to spend with my family and friends, we get a deeper connection, with better communication and more self-reflection, so that we can take something deeper, making it more spiritual, and with more experimentation.
HOW HAS LOCKDOWN-LIFE ALTERED YOUR WORK?
I’m getting back to nature. For a long time I didn’t venture into the forest behind my home, since the pace of my life recently increased and I just didn’t have the time. Now, I often stroll during sunset to enjoy the view. Also, I have more time to spend with my friends, and I notice more details about them; they are really good and really special, and I’m really happy to be with them. I’m a really lucky person (and photographer) because I’m never lacking models or subjects—I’m always surrounded by all these special people.
“I don’t believe in the statement or idea that everyone is a photographer nowadays. I think it should be everyone is an image-maker nowadays. There’s a big difference.”
ARE THERE ANY POSITIVE (OR NEGATIVE) CHANGES YOU CAN SEE COMING OUT OF THIS SITUATION?
I hope there will be a reflection on what “photographer” means, since there are lot of “zoom shoots” or situations where they’re just letting the model take a selfie or be photographed by their relatives. I don’t believe in the statement or idea that everyone is a photographer nowadays. I think it should be everyone is an image-maker nowadays. There’s a big difference.
There’s many creative things and shoots happening in people’s homes right now given that people aren’t able to use luxurious venues and professional teams. But the “professional” should be able to show the difference, and to show that the people who don’t have the necessary personal or professional characteristics in their work—who simply press the shutter—might be proven to be unneeded at a time like this, to be extraneous.
After this initial stage, maybe later, the bar for photographers should be higher. Also, people usually overestimate the exaggerated shoots and underestimate themselves. People can take good pictures as long as they have a great concept, otherwise it is meaningless even with the most expensive gear. So moving forward, people should be braver with their ideas.
WHO ELSE'S WORK MIGHT YOU WANT TO SEE FEATURED ON TSUKI?
Yvonne Lui, a video director.
HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING/LISTENING/READING ANYTHING INTERESTING?
For music, Men I Trust. Their music is really chill and dreamy. For movies, I just finished Richard Linklater’s “The Before Trilogy”, and I was fascinating by the spontaneous atmosphere of it. For books, I’m reading The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, since people always said the stock market is very horrible, and I want to figure it out.