A’s Fables

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A’s Fables

Amount：story pages: 22+ / animal photos: 52+

on going project 

 

“A’s Fables” comprises a series of photographs of various dimensions, of animals taken at zoos around the world, combined with altered pages of storybooks. These images and texts were produced from photographs shot using digital cameras and alterations by hand, with the aim of weaving together the fantasies and power relations created by personification and metaphor. 

The Turtles In The Glass Pool AQUARIUM Berlin_Germany_2019
Right:  The Frog On Glass Schönbrunn Zoo_Austria_2015
Left: Aesop’s Fables: The Frogs Who Desired a King

Clearly visible words:  A long time ago, the frogs led a free and easy  life  in the lakes and ponds  
Right: The Deer With The Iron Lunch Box
 Zoo Negara_Kuala Lumpur_Malaysia_2016
Left: Aesop’s Fables: The One-Eyed Doe

Clearly visible words:  
A one-eyed doe used to graze near the sea
Right: The Wildcat, Meerkat Couple, And Cactus
NanChang Zoo_China_2016
Left: Aesop’s Fables: The Hen and the Cat  

Clearly visible words:  
How are you,  my dear friend?  What can I do for you? Do you need  anything?
The Dove And Ostrich Beijing Zoo_China_2015
The Monkey With The Wheels Guangzhou Zoo_China_2016
Right: The Bull, The Donkeys, The Castles, And The Villas
Perugia Zoo_Italy_2018
Left: Aesop’s Fables: The Creaking Wheels

Clearly visible words: Why do you groan when those creatures who are doing all the work are silent.
The Black Bear Riding A Motorcycle
Shenzhen safari park_China_2016
Right: The Monkey And The Mural   Taiyuan Zoo_China_2016
Left: Aesop’s Fables: The Monkey and the Camel  

Clearly visible words: At a great meeting of the beasts, the monkey stood  up to dance, and his performance delighted all those present so much  

The Tiger At Work Xining Zoo_China_2019
Right: The Wolves In The Power Grid  
XiNing Zoo_China_2019
Left: Aesop’s Fables: The Kid and the Wolf 

Clearly visible words:
Don’t think that you can annoy me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not you who’s taunting me, but the place on which you’re standing.  
 
The Bear On The Road XiNing Zoo_China_2019

Artist statement

Since the beginning of 2015, photographing and observing the city, as well as the living things that inhabit it, have become inescapable habits of mine. In a self-established database of videos and images I have taken at the zoo, I sought to pick out images that were worthy of a contemplative gaze, and selectively added black bars that covered the faces of the animals in the images. My work is based on my personal emotions and made according to the rule that the images must contain both visible living things as well as artificially made objects. I try to transform the trivial into something important, using deliberately created points of focus—the black bars—to break past the existing order of viewing images. In 2018, I started reading and modifying the stories from Aesop’s Fables. In 2019, I tried to combine these altered images and texts into a book.