Jiehao Su

Jiehao Su was born in 1988 and raised in Southern China. He travelled extensively in China before he studied photography at Beijing Film Academy. His work is deeply rooted in his personal history. In between reality and imagination, he mainly deals with the notions of memory, identity and belonging. Jiehao currently lives and works in Beijing. Today we talke a look at his series titled, Borderland.

Jiehao_Su_01_oGolf Course, 2013

Jiehao_Su_02_oPlayground, 2012

Borderland

In the late winter of 2012, I began to work on Borderland, an ongoing project deeply rooted in my personal history. Like a mirror of sorts, Borderland reflects my years of drifting and discovery in eastern and southern China. Perhaps more importantly, this work documents a life not dissimilar from my own childhood in suburban Guangdong.

Jiehao_Su_03_oSisters, 2013

Jiehao_Su_04_oDoves, 2012

I suffered through the death of my mother in 2006, when I was eighteen years old. I left home and found myself rapt in a nomadic state of being, traveling from city to city, documenting what I saw at a sensitive distance. In both physical and psychological respects, this journey became a form of healing. I confronted and grew increasingly curious about issues of family, homeland, identity and existence.

Jiehao_Su_05_oWaterfall, 2012

Jiehao_Su_06_oMan with Life Buoy, 2012

The images I’ve captured for the past two years comprise my obsession with the boundaries between reality and imaginary, present experience and memory, isolation and belonging. I use both fiction and nonfiction as themes in my work to rebuild my self-awareness. With these tools I am seeking to represent a version of home, as well as find comfort in reconnecting with the past. In this sense Borderland is an intimate work of remembrance, tenderness and self-consolation; which under the process of rapid urbanization in contemporary China.

Jiehao_Su_07_oRecycle Place by the Yangtze River, 2012

Jiehao_Su_08_oZou Behind the Window, 2012

Jiehao_Su_09_oSnowscape, 2012

Jiehao_Su_10_oMan with His Dogs, 2012

Jiehao_Su_11_oResidential District, 2012

Jiehao_Su_12_oMattress, 2012

Jiehao_Su_13_oBoys in Blue, 2012

Jiehao_Su_14_oPaulownia Flowers, 2012

Jiehao_Su_15_oHouse at Night, 2012

His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including Newspace Center for Photography (Portland, 2014), Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati, 2014), The Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins, 2014), Actual Size LA (Los Angeles, 2014), Lishui Photo Festival (Lishui, 2013), Jinan Photo Biennial (Jinan, 2012), Alliance France (Shanghai, 2011). His work have been featured in publications such as GUP Magazine, Thisispaper, BOOOOOOOM, Paper Journal, Positive Magazine, Fraction Magazine, Phases Magazine, Lenscratch, Droste Effect Magazine, Landscape Stories Blog, Aura Magazine, Homeland Magazine. In 2012 Jiehao was awarded the Excellent Photographer Prize and received a two-year working grant from Jinan Photo Biennial in China. He was nominated for the 4th Houdengke Documentary Photography Award in 2013. Recently he was shortlisted for the 2014 APA / Lucie Foundation Scholarship.

To view more of Jiehao’s work please his website.