Born and raised in Singapore, Zhou HanShun is a photographic artist, printmaker and art director. After graduating from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore and RMIT University, he went on to make a living as an art director, and continues to pursue his passion as a visual storyteller and photographer. He uses photography as a way to explore, investigate and document the culture and people in the cities he has lived in.
HanShun has exhibited at the Tumbas Cultural Center in Thessaloniki, Greece for Photoeidolo (2017), the Molekyl Gallery in Sweden, for the Malmo Fotobiennal (2017), the Gallery under Theater in Bratislava, Slovakia for The Month of Photography Bratislava (2017), the Czech China Contemporary Museum in Beijing for the SongZhuang International Photo Biennale (2017), the PhotoMetria “Parallel Voices” exhibition in Greece (2016), the Addis FotoFest in Ethiopia (2016), among others. HanShun was awarded a Special Mention at the Balkan Photo Festival (2016), Shortlisted for the Hariban Award (2017) and was a finalist of Photolucida Critical Mass (2016), among others.
Once Upon The Sea
Two Chinese characters make up the name of Shanghai, 上 (shàng, “upon”) and 海 (hǎi, “sea”), together meaning “Upon-the-Sea”.
In the process of modernization on the way to becoming a global financial center, the Longtang communities of narrow interconnected passageways in this old city of Shanghai are fast being replaced with high-rise apartments and shopping malls. I first came to Shanghai in 2012 and was surprised to see how modern the city was. But to really understand the city, I decided to find and explore its original way of life. To wander in these Longtang neighborhoods is to experience the original way of life in this city before it disappears.
To view more of HanShun Zhou’s work please visit his website.