Zhu Mo: Undercurrents

softcover, 21 x 27 cm JZZP, 2026 "I am simply someone who has no wish to understand reason, yet is forever captivated by appearances." — Shen Congwen At the end of 2014, I left Beijing and wandered around China. I went to the Northeast, North China, and places like Shanxi and Henan, and I also returned to my hometown, Hunan. Most of the time, I just drove aimlessly along national highways, encountering people and scenery. I photographed northern cities with dwindling populations, abandoned forestry farms, young men raising fish in rivers, and mothers and daughters in villages chasing fashion. I also photographed riverbeds covered in coal ash, bridges under construction, dream-chasers in small towns, dying animals, quarries, homes converted from abandoned buses, ancient pagodas overtaken by plants, as well as middle school students on buses, trucks on national highways... These photographs fascinate me and also unsettle me. There is much I cannot explain clearly, yet I still want to stop and look a little longer. When I'm taking pictures, I still find myself generating some hope. But as I walk on, certain things I thought had already passed return in a different guise. We are right in the midst of it, moving forward with it, moving backward with it. Looking at these photographs now, sometimes they feel like a layer of oil floating on water, turning into a shimmer of iridescent color. You can sense it, but not grasp it. At other times, I seem to see raging waves.