Luo Yang On Empowering Girls and Breaking Stereotypes Through Photography
One of the fastest-rising photographers to come out of China, Luo Yang has traveled the world exhibiting her images of young Chinese women in a photo-series she calls, simply, “Girls.”
When did you first begin photographing women, and what was it initially that inspired you to do so? I started photographing in 2007 out of the desire to express the real me and how I felt about the world around me. Much of this was related to the confusion of puberty, of being young and inexperienced. But when I saw the girls around me sharing the same emotions and confusions about life, I realized that I needed to record our lives.
How have your impressions of Chinese women changed since then? From 2007 to 2016, I got to know girls who were born in the 80s to the 90s. At the beginning, I noticed there weren’t too many girls like these; girls who were independent, open and free to be themselves. Now they are becoming a majority.This makes me believe that there’s an emerging trend among young girls to express themselves. It gives me a lot of confidence. Taking photos of these girls is an encouraging process for all of us.
What is the most glaring stereotype you want to dispel about Chinese women through your work? It’s hard to say that I’m dispelling anything. I’m just trying to do the best I can to show the reality that I see, to comfort and encourage the girls I’m photographing. Of course, I hope that after seeing my work, people can be persuaded to see women in a different way and give them more freedom and space beyond the stereotypes about women in Chinese society.
