The photographic project Group Living is a reflection on over-urbanization in China.
The project questions the extreme trend of urban expansion by depicting a gregarious state of urbanization in major Chinese cities.
Unlike Western developed countries, where urbanization has evolved over centuries, China has undergone a rapid transition from an agrarian to an industrial society, and urban life has become the dominant, even the only, mode of living. People benefit from the richness of urban resources, while the government benefits from the convenience of centralized management.
However, due to a long history of ideological separation from the West, lessons learned from years of urbanization in developed countries have not been fully considered by Chinese authorities. As a result, a new cycle of negative consequences is emerging in China, a vast testing ground for urbanization.
Beyond visible issues such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and the spread of viruses, more subtle concerns are arising: homogenized buildings, easily reproduced at scale, leading to homogenized lives and even homogenized personalities. Social structures begin to overshadow individuality, group rules replace personal consciousness, and, more critically, the collective wisdom accumulated through communal living risks being diluted by the infinite expansion of the group. As individuals increasingly define themselves as part of a collective, the collective unconscious is amplified within this system.
About the project. The project consists of two main threads: crowds and urban architecture. Together, they invite reflection on the city, urbanization, and group living as the dominant mode of contemporary human existence. These two threads alternate, each with its own visual sequence, forming a cohesive overall narrative. The theme, while straightforward, is presented through a multidimensional perspective.
The project was conceived during his time as a photojournalist. Extensive travels across China led him to question the effects of over-urbanization in densely populated areas. The idea became more defined during the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. During his artist residency at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai in 2023, the return of crowds to the streets after the pandemic allowed him to further reflect on and deepen the project. Through Group Living, he aims to provoke thought about the present and future modes of human life.
About Jian Luo
Jian Luo is a Chinese photographer based in Paris and Beijing. His work has been exhibited in China, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, and Japan, and is included in the permanent collections of the MUSEC Museum in Switzerland and the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in China. He seeks to uncover the underlying connections between people and modern society and present them through his lens. He believes that a certain truth exists both inside and outside the camera, although it may take time to confirm. Influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s idea of the decisive moment, he maintains that this truth can be found both within and beyond the lens, even if it requires time to reveal itself. [Official Website]
