Chen zhe: bees and the bearable

Artist book by Chen Zhe
Published by Jiazazhi, 2018
260mm × 210mm × 25mm
280 pages, 19+1 saddle-stitched booklets
75 colour plates, 40 grayscale journals & letters
First edition second printing: 800
*Trigger warning: this publication includes graphic imagery of self harm

This book was awarded the Best Photobook of the Year by Kassel Fotobookfestival in 2016

The Bearable & Bees is a two-part project that documents, researches and explores the psychological labyrinth around self-inflicted harm. The Bearable records the artist’s own dark, though occasionally euphoric, history of self-affliction while in Bees, photography becomes a vehicle of exchange between the artist and the others. Identifying the physical self-destruction of her subjects as an act of spiritual cleansing, Chen Zhe expanded her photographic observations with a collection of letters, dairy entries, online chat histories, quote fragments and scribbles. Referring to bees as they sting to self-defense, leaving ‘their lives behind them in the wound’ (Virgil, The Georgics), the project is Chen Zhe's closing statement of her long contemplation on the disquieted souls, the wounded bodies and the elusive link between the two.

Chen Zhe (b.1989, Beijing) received her BFA in Photography and Imaging from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. Her works has recently be featured in exhibitions at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany (2019); The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9), Brisbane, Australia (2018); Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2018); Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong (2018); OCAT Museum Xi’an, Xi’an (solo, 2018); CAFA Art Museum, Beijing (2017); The 11th Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai (2016); Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2016); Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2016); The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2013); and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (2011). Chen is the recipient of the Foam Talent (2018), Xitek New Talent Award (2015), Lianzhou Festival Photographer of the Year Award (2012), Three Shadows Award (2011) and the Inge Morath Award from the Magnum Foundation (2011). She is also subject of TV documentary films Chinese Viewfinder produced by ARTE, France (2013) and China Through the Lens of Youth produced by NHK, Japan (2014). Her latest publication Bees & The Bearable was awarded the Best Photobook of the Year by Kassel Fotobookfestival in 2016.

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