High-priced photo star sorry over ‘creepy’ shot
Print Edition
Chen Man, deemed China’s “most expensive” fashion photographer, apologized on her Weibo account yesterday for her controversial photography including some of her previous works slammed by social media as “uglifying Chinese.”
“I blame myself for the naivety and ignorance back in my early years when my concept of art has not yet taken shape.” Chen said. Chen also said she had already taken the works off from the Internet “to prevent further harm.”
“I was born and grown in China. I love my motherland deeply,” Chen said in the apology, “I also bear in heart that as an artist I ought to shoulder a mission of recording and passing on Chinese culture. I stick to a goal of showing China’s beauty through my works.”
Chen, 41, is known as one of China’s top fashion photographers and has shot numerous photos for international fashion brands, magazines and global superstars including Rihanna and Victoria Beckham. She has been pushed to the forefront recently as criticism mounted on a poster she photographed at an exhibition of French luxury powerhouse Christian Dior opened on November 12 in Shanghai.
Eerie atmosphere
The poster shows a woman of Asian origin with her eyes rolled back, swollen eyelids, freckles, streaked eyeshadow and long fingernail protectors, which were worn by people of nobility during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), holding a Lady Dior, one of the brand’s well-known handbags.
Chinese social media users were largely spooked by the “eerie and creepy atmosphere” portrayed in the poster and felt much offended.
A Shanghai Daily reader commented, “I thought it portrays a girl with finger deformity at first glance. Her nails are not embellished at all, what are the protectors for.”
Another reader followed to say, “people are free to appreciate beauty, people are free to get offended. There’s nothing wrong about feeling offended if the work makes you uncomfortable.”
The fashion brand that responded to the Internet fury immediately and removed the controversial poster from its social media platforms followed Chen on Weibo in about half an hour, explaining that Chen’s photography at the exhibition named “Arrogant Reservedness” is not a commercial but one of Dior’s art projects.
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