Xidong Luo is a self-taught fine art photographer based in Shenzhen, China. She specializes in mirror fantasy featured with a combination of self portrait and still life, expressing the transient feminine beauty, the built-in female pain, and the profound connectedness between women and nature.
Luo’s creation is deeply rooted in the traditional Chinese philosophy Taoism, which claims that “Heaven and earth coexist with me, and all things and I are one (物我合一)”, implying the interconnections & interdependency between all things in the universe.
The inspiration of using mirrors came from the Chinese idiom “镜花水月”. Literally it means "flowers in the mirror and the moon reflected in the water", which is a metaphor of the UNCERTAINTY, UNATTAINABILITY and NOTHINGNESS of life itself. Visually, it adds more dimensions and emotive weights to the creation in a sense of surrealism.
With her studio isolated in a beautiful mountain valley neighboring the beach, most of her “props“ are collected from Mother NATURE, such as broken branches, fallen leaves, seasonal flowers and fruits, stones and shells, etc.,which serve as the primary metaphors in her work. Wistful still lives carry memories and echo life’s fleeting nature. Also, the spirit of nature brings solace and resilience to her soul.
As an amateur dancer, Luo takes the advantage by using herself as the medium of expression to accomplish her art projects ever since the COVID-19 lockdown. Yet it's not just about the beauty of a face or a body, it’s more about her profound comprehending and cherishing of life through sorrowfully accepting its fleeting nature.
In this “Self-Reflection” process, Luo reconnected to the woman within by observing and re-evaluating her own thoughts, emotions, desires, motivations, and values in a more objective way. She believes that “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Before starting with photography, Luo worked for IBM for 10 years and traveled well internationally. However, due to a lack of interest in business management, she quit the job and spent 7 years backpacking off-the-beaten-track in the peripheral Himalayas, which is the pacing factor and the inspiration of her path in photography.
Fortunately, Luo didn't start with art creation in a younger age, so she had the chance to embrace various life paths from her 20s to 40s. It accounted for a lot in deepening her perception and understanding of the world around her. With high frustration and depression during the COVID-19 Lockdown, feelings and emotions just came in her like a flood. Making art through the lenses is her only relief in those dark days. Without pain, without her art.
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艺术家简介
罗汐，生活艺术践行者，旅行及瑜伽达人。读过千卷书，也行过万里路。
成为职业摄影师之前，她曾在世界科技巨头IBM合资企业任职近十年。随后激流勇退，背包行走于海内外，进行自然、历史与人文的多重探索。
因旅行爱上摄影。她听从内心的声音、循着直觉的引领，不断调整人生方向。在诸多因缘和合之下，实现了从职场精英到摄影爱好者再到职业摄影师的转变。正是这非同寻常的命运轨迹，构筑了她独特的视觉语言。
在开创并引领了中国新生儿摄影、专注于女性肖像7年后，疫情3年的闭锁萧条期令她开始重新审视职业方向，尝试以自己为模特进行独立艺术创作。
深受道家“物我合一”思想的影响，她擅长将女性人物和自然元素通过形神意的关联性融合在一起，来致敬岁月沉淀的优雅、诠释女性与生俱来的阴柔美、飞逝的青春和被植入的疼痛，以及女性与自然、今与昔、生与死的关系。
活过的年岁和经历的生活，令她对生命历程有着深刻的感悟。时间与流逝、无常与短暂、困惑与挣扎、迷失与觉醒、成长与衰老、美与哀愁、生与死……是她视界里永恒的主题。
她希望通过自己的表达让观者从中感知到时间的流动与凝固；在岁月的纹痕和肌理中窥见生命的温度与厚度、渺小与伟大、卑微与庄严，从而愈加珍惜每一个当下，并坦然接纳不完美的自己。
源于对山川草木深深的敬意与热爱，她的大部分“道具”都取材于大自然。如野生花草、落叶、枯枝、树根、贝壳、石子等。它们作为自然生命的代表，与画面中的人物一起，在季节流转里同生息、共荣枯。
镜子的灵感来自于成语“镜花水月”。镜中花、水中月隐喻生命中的无常、虚幻和不可触达。除了在视觉上增加画面的维度和戏剧感，更构筑了一种时空的错位——现时与过往，此处与彼处。
在尽情燃烧生命的过程中去探索、领悟与表达生命，这是她作品的灵魂基石。摄影除了是视觉艺术，它还应是文学、是哲思、是生命的历程与人生的境界。