Zen Foto Gallery is pleased to announce its exhibition “New Hong Kong Photozine: ‘Photography__Studies’ Part 2” from June 9 to July 8, 2023.

“Photography__Studies” [攝影__學] was founded by Hong Kong photographer Chow san in January 2021. Last year in February, Zen Foto held its first photo zine exhibition, presenting and selling the first 12 issues of “Photography__Studies” and photozines self-published by the Hong Kong artists who were featured. This time, as the second part of the exhibition, we will exhibit and sell issue no.13 to 21, which was just released, as well as the artists’ books and self-published photozines.

Chow san founded the photozine series “Photography__Studies”, hoping to showcase different works of photography created by artists in Hong Kong. He saw that while a variety of photographic art and artists exist in Hong Kong, a very few of them are being introduced by the mainstream media in Hong Kong. Instead of simply presenting them on the internet or social media like how these artists usually publicize them on their Instagram accounts, Chow decided to do it on printed matter in order to let readers hold the work in their hands and decide on whether they like the artist's work, as well as whether to buy and own the zine as a presentation form of the work while offering the zine in an affordable price for anyone to purchase.

Chow named the photo zine “Photography__Studies” because he wants to leave it open for everyone to have a different perspective towards photography, which is originally the way things are for art. What goes in the underscore/blank can be the study of philosophy, aesthetics of photography, or even a “non-study” of photography, according to Chow.

Along with this exhibition, Zen Foto Gallery will sell all the issues of “Photography__Studies” by the following artists. We will also sell limited copies of the photozines we exhibited last year.

Wong Sin
shott.dream
Peter Sam
Etienne Leung
freedomgum
Zeon
Joe Lee
Kinho Lam
Chan Long Hei


Photozine Issue No.13
Wong Sin

Wong Sin is based in Hong Kong. Her practice involves drawing, poetry, performance and mixed media. From her own experience and imagination, the artist uses natural meanings and symbols in order to reach humanity’s innermost emotions and the world’s mysteries. She explores the spiritual level and primitive power to discover the essence of things that are difficult to explain with science and knowledge, and she focuses on the individual and intuition, believing that human beings have commonalities. Literature and philosophy are like a plain where she can start to think about the connection between the world and people.
Wong Sin self-published a poetry book under the title ”Echo Valley“ in 2021.

Instagram: sin.costansin

Photozine Issue No.14
shott.dream

For me, photography is mainly divided into pure and dirty, and my photos are definitely dirty. When I do street photography, I feel like I am a rat running through the streets looking for prey. This is my body of work when I first started to find my own way of photographing. I hope you enjoy these dirty photos.

Instagram: shott.dream

Photozine Issue No.15
Peter Sam

Peter is an amateur photographer who is working in the IT industry. In the beginning, he treated photography as a hobby and a way to relax and express his inner world. He later discovered that photography can help him interact and communicate with the outside world and broaden his vision of the surroundings. For him, the photography process is always enjoyable — the process of shooting on the street sometimes is more fun and rewarding than the “result” he gets.

Instagram: dupdupdee

Photozine Issue No.16
Etienne Leung

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Etienne has a background in illustration and Chinese ink painting. After completing her BA in Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins and MA in Cinematography at Met Film School in London, Etienne returned to Hong Kong and has been working as a cinematographer since 2017.

Street photography is part of Etienne’s source of inspiration, which began with a noble reason to create visual memories for others, and as time goes by it is also a medium to self-reflect.

In 2017, Etienne participated in an artist residence at Shiro Oni Studio, Fujioka, Gunma Prefecture. Her photos were published under the title.

Instagram: etindahouse

Photozine Issue No.17
freedomgum

Freedomgum is a photographer and videographer. Born and raised in Hong Kong, he graduated from University of Reading studying Building Surveying (BSc). What started out as a casual hobby documenting flickerings of daily life, skating and friends, blossomed into an ‘accidental’ career as a multi-talented photographer and videographer. His work is boundless, covering a broad visual spectrum. Finding inspiration everywhere, his portfolio is an extensive visual representation of subjects and narratives. He is particularly interested in documenting both the mundane as well as the bizarre and surreal. Moreover, his video work presents an alternative extension of his still work, offering a deeper dive into his vision.

His passion extends to his love for the medium of photography publications. His archive project ‘SGUM Archive’, highlights his extensive collection of fashion, fine art and skate books, magazines, stickers, and other forms of printed media. His archive is a playful yet refined reflection of his youthful spirit.

Instagram: freedomgum

Photozine Issue No.18
Zeon

29-year-old male from Hong Kong
Graduated in Mathematics
Working in photography-related industry
Likes concepts
Likes abstraction
Likes colour
Likes lines
Likes sound
Likes perception
Likes sleeping
Likes beauty
Likes money
Like to play machine
Likes to play with Instagram

Feelings Record Colour Narrative Creation Sound Challenge
Purity Nothingness Observation Architecture Reflection Promotion Consciousness
Emotions Psychedelia Solitude Weather Light Survival Temperature
Land Black and White Art Geometry Time Presence Line
Design Death Aesthetics Memory Scrutiny Connection Witness...

Instagram: mokzeonming

Photozine Issue No.19
Joe Lee

Commercial photographer, artist.
Born in Hong Kong. With only 30 cents for pocket money, Joe bought his first camera for HK$5.00 when he was a child. Since then he became obsessed with photography. He loves the unique characteristics of film photography, especially its beauty of defects.

Instagram: j_o_e_l_e_e_3_2_1

Photozine Issue No.20
Kinho Lam

Born and bred in Hong Kong, Kinho has been in love with Japanese photography since he was young, and has been an active street photographer since 2017.
His works are mainly black and white.

Instagram: foto_by_kinho

Photozine Issue No.21
Chan Long Hei

(b. 1994) is an independent photographer born and raised in Hong Kong. After studying Social Policy in university, Chan began working as a photojournalist with various local and international media outlets, including Initium Media, The Reporter (Taiwan), European Pressphoto Agency and Bloomberg News. After receiving several local and international photography awards in the field of reporting, Chan began publishing his own work in 2017. He has published few photo books including “Hong Kong is beautiful, isn’t it?” (2019), The Unspeakable (2020) and After Island (2021). He now devotes his time to documenting social phenomena and developing his personal photography projects.

Instagram: clhfoto

Artist Profile

Chow san

Born in Hong Kong in 1982, Chow began photographing in 2010. He participated in Hong Kong International Photo Festival’s “Dozens of photography works - 100FT.PARK's Special” in 2013, and was selected as one of the finalists of the 2nd Hong Kong Photo Book Awards in 2014. In 2015, his first solo exhibition “the flower” was held in ACO Book in Hong Kong. He self-published his first photobook “Day Trip” in 2018 and the works were exhibited at Kubrick. He also self-published his second book “Japanese photograph” in 2018 and a zine titled “Medical Research Report 2019” in 2019. In 2020, his zine “the flower” was published as one of the “Dying City” series by Mark Pearson. After the release of “No Teacher But I Can Take Photographs” with Zen Foto this year in 2020, Chow has exhibited his works at HK feature territory and Kubrick, Hong Kong.