About Imageless

Annual Best Dummy Photobook Award

"Grassland, Funeral" by Gao Shaoshan

Author's Statement: From the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023, things were constantly passing away on the lawn below my apartment. I witnessed a series of deceased individuals being carried into the same blue funeral tent on this lawn, over and over. In this sense, this blue tent, which was central to many funerals, symbolized a larger funeral or even an act of forgetting. Through "snapshots" that directly involve readers in the event, I documented this "funeral" in a realistic sense. Using the photobook as a medium, I constructed a narrative of successive funerals through photo editing, exploring the theme of "funeral."

Author's Bio:

Gao Shaoshan was born in 2000 and grw up in Taiyuan, Shanxi. He holds a bachelor's degree in painting from Southwest Jiaotong University. He is currently studying Photography at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts.

Jury Comments

Taco:
This is a rare book where content and form are perfectly matched. The author uses a large number of full-bleed layouts in a small-format book, creating a sense of oppressive realism, interspersed with appropriate white space to let emotions slowly brew. The theme is heavy, involving life and death, but the author avoids all sentimental and overt emotional expressions, maintaining a surprising level of restraint. However, under this surface of restraint, there is a surge of underlying emotions, and certain parts of the layout are ingeniously connected, making this a seemingly ordinary book that is full of thoughtful details upon closer inspection.

Yu Qiongjie:
'Grassland, Funeral' uses a static visual narrative that surpasses a dynamic long-form record. The sequential relationship of the images are like scenes in a movie. The poetic text constructed through images fully engages the reader's emotions, leaving a faint sadness after reading, but not overwhelmingly so, breaking the reader's subjective impression of the theme 'funeral.'"

Yin Er:
It leaves a subtly intoxicating impression, narrating the parting road of a soul from the mortal world with pure visual language in a non-linear way. The appropriately set book structure unexpectedly immerses the reader's emotions at nearly overlooked moments."

Jury Selection Award

"Silver River Flows Long" by shadowINred

Author's Statement

"My mother passed away in early 2020. She was born near a reservoir in the Rui'an District of Wenzhou, and her cemetery is on a small hill in the Ouhai District. I completed this project by photographing along the route from her birthplace to her cemetery, combined with portraits of family members.

Author's Bio

Artist, Xie Lufeng, prefers to publish photography works under the name shadowINred.

Taco's Comments:

"I really like the author's sense of photography, which is light yet has an inherent rhythm and harmony. The photography is full of spirituality, making the viewer feel as if they are directly facing the subject, which is a rare talent. The arrangement of the book is also very tidy, with natural, unforced alternations between portraits and small scenes, making it an excellent dummy photobook."

Hua Hong《花红》 by Liao Xiong

Author's Statement:

Huahong is his real name and he‘s a migrant worker. In 1993, at the age of 19, he came to work on a construction site in Hangzhou with fellow villagers, later getting into the tile-laying industry through an introduction. A hardworking man, he bought a house in Hangzhou seven years ago, ending his family's long period of renting and moving. Huahong's family life is harmonious, and he enjoys singing and dancing, always harboring a dream of becoming a star. Since seeing live performances on the streets, Huahong decided to showcase "grassroots culture" through his own talents and realize his long-held dream. On stage, Huahong is no longer just a tile worker in a cramped space but a focal point of admiration and attention, finding a sense of existence there.

Author's Bio

Liao Xiong is a member of the China Photographers Association and a senior engineer, currently working at the Publicity Department of Gongshu District, Hangzhou. He has published photography books such as “60% Alum Mine Documentary” and “Innocent San Dun”. He has also self-published books like “Machine Repair 60 Years”, “Exile”, “The Rite of Passage”, and “In the Thousand Peaks”. His works have been featured in various photography exhibitions including the Lishui International Photography Exhibition and Ningbo International Photography Exhibition.

Yuqiong's Comments: Liao Xiong’s photography book “Huahong” narrates the daily life of an ordinary person from an observer's perspective. The first thing that moved me was the content: the vivid response of the characters and the social status and individuality of the group the photographer focuses on. Secondly, the book's structure: it is divided into two parts, with different types of paper used to respond to the images of work and daily life. Glossy paper is used for work images, giving them a sense of being part work, while uncoated paper for daily life images provides a documentary feel, presenting the real two sides of the character.

I Am Young, So Young 《我年轻，如此年轻》by Xiang Haoquan

Author's Statement

Alec Soth once said, “photography has a problem, which is that it is entirely about appearance, so shooting must be full of the photographer’s projection onto others.” The use of the first person in the title symbolizes self-awareness, the consciousness of a young person who is full of hope yet deeply feels powerless, possessing the best physical and intellectual state of his life.

Author's Bio

Xiang Haoquan, born in 1997, from Hunan, China.

Yin Er's Comments: I almost bumped into a young man who apologized first. This photography book, which reduces ambition and talent to the minimum on almost every level, consists of snapshots taken by an elder brother of his younger brother, who is four years younger. Flipping through it briefly, I witnessed the moments of a very ordinary boy from a small city in Central China, growing up quickly. When preparing to put the book down, I noticed the most prominent sentence on the introduction page: “Prepared in haste, many mistakes, please forgive.” This apology instantly pierced through the images of helplessness and unspoken words accumulated over years in my memory. Not just this book, but the younger brother in the book, the author taking the photos, and even us viewers—who isn't on the verge of slipping into the unpredictable vortex of reality? We have all been taught a way to always avoid sharp edges, to habitually apologize. Everything and everyone are no longer young. This book made me shift from a fixation on the connection between content and form to seeing the intertextuality between the book and its external state. If it hadn't been made into a photo album handed to others, would such an unremarkable protagonist and such a mundane trace of life ever be noticed? The book makes a fleeting encounter pause, with a glance connecting thoughts, then both parties move on, apologizing.

Emerging Talent Award
Youth Sketchbook 《青春速写本》 by Xu Hengtao

Author's Statement

A work about youth photographed during the years 2018-2023, centered around the young people around me.

Author's Bio

Xu Hengtai, born December 28, 1999. Graduated in 2023 from Heilongjiang Engineering College with a major in Urban and Rural Planning, currently residing in Xi'an, Shaanxi.

Award Comments

Peng Ke: This is a photography book I wanted to own, with many photos that I have looked at for a long time. Its cover has no text, which contrasts with the lively images inside, making it a pleasant surprise and something to cherish. The photographer respects the world in front of them; these images are light and carry no heavy self-justification. You can feel the photographer growing and intertwining with the surrounding world, and this small resonance is touching, yet the photographer's honesty allows this frequency to radiate to a larger world. The book's size and content are perfectly matched, and imagining opening it on a distant night evokes much thought and takes one back to many misty nights beyond.

Ni Liang: In this simple and unpretentious book, the creator demonstrates impressive control over imagery and editing skills. Documenting the people around them is a basic desire for many photographers, but rarely with the appearance presented in this book: each page invites contemplation and surprise. The pure charm of direct photography is felt in this book, making it very touching! If possible, please continue shooting!