East village 1994.3, 1994

Rong Rong (b. 1968 China) is a Chinese contemporary photographer known for his evocative black-and-white photographs that document the transformation of Beijing's urban landscape and the Chinese avant-garde art scene. As one of the pioneering figures in Chinese contemporary photography, Rong Rong’s work captures the rapidly changing environment of China in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. His early work, particularly the "East Village" series, documents the lives and performances of experimental artists in Beijing's East Village, an area that became a hub for avant-garde art in the 1990s. Rong Rong's images are marked by their intimate and raw quality, often depicting the tension between tradition and modernity, decay and growth. In collaboration with his wife, Inri, Rong Rong has also explored themes of identity, nature, and the human condition through their joint projects. Together, they founded the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing, the first art space in China dedicated solely to photography, making significant contributions to the development of contemporary photography in China. (Artist website)