Wall-7, Forbidden City, Beijing, 2005

For two winters, the artist spent her time wandering Beijing looking for old walls to photograph. From Gulou to Houhai, from Qianmen to Tianqiao, wearing a quilted coat and under the curious watch of passersby, Wen Fang would explore the corners of the capital city where she was born and raised, looking for these emblems of history. Once she stopped in an old neighborhood where she heard the voice of an old man from behind the wall she was photographing, saying to himself, "What on earth could there be to photograph here?" After an environment has become too familiar, the artist wonders, are we still able to perceive it in all its beauty? In China, the nation of the 2000-year-old Great Wall, walls can be more than just architectural structures. In a nation that is developing at a breakneck pace, it takes an artist like Wen Fang to remind us to appreciate such traces of a city's past.

Wen Fang graduated from college in 1996 during the period of China's Internet boom, and she became a website designer in Beijing. A Buddhist practitioner, she says she picked art and design, not so much as a calling but as a way to balance her personality; only later did her art develop into a true passion. Six years after graduating, and with an interest in learning more about art and the world, Wen went France where she studied photography at Louis Lumière College. In her own words, "The most important thing I learned in France was to be open minded…the experience made it easier for me to understand others and their differences."

Since her return to China, Wen has made a name for herself with her counter-traditional photography and her unique installation art. Not satisfied with simply creating two-dimensional images, her photography art can be found on bricks, knives, desks, and even hair. Her work describes her native culture, her Buddhist beliefs, and often explores the lives of some of China's most underrepresented people. More than other artists of her generation, she is able to make photography interactive and personal.

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