Four Seasons: Spring

Chen Man's photographs are known for their imaginative depictions of fantastical worlds. Often overlapping fashion and fine art, her works have graced the covers of international fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar. This work from Chen Man's series Four Seasons gives a high-fashion edge to her embodiment of spring, a familiar subject in traditional Chinese art. "When you see the spring [photograph]," the artist says, "it represents the beginning of the power of those plants.... I use young ladies instead of the traditional male soldiers and they combine to tell the power of the wood, the power of the spring."*

*Chen Man, KCRW: Design & Architecture (January 7, 2015).