Reading biographies has become my way to seek for inspirations. People around you, people you found in the history, is an easy source of great stories.
Chien-Chi is the first Chinese member of the Magnum Photos. He was known for photographing the life of illegal immigrants in New York which he started on 1992. This series of work were published in at least five different languages for the National Geographic. In 1998, Time invited Chien-Chi to explore further on the topic of illegal immigrant in New York. This has lead to a rising global concern about the immigrant issues.
One of the later topic which Chien-Chi has explored is about the life of the psychiatric patients. It was happened in Taiwan that these psychiatric patients were chained under the name of religion. Chien-Chi took these patients into his frames as the silent protest for human rights.
Photography has became a special means for Chien-Chi to interpret social issues. He usually pick sensitive and rare topics to present them in a critical and enthusiastic perspective.
To me, it is not purely about beauty but photography serves to record history, reflect the pasts and raise social concerns.
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