My work series, The Stuffs of Live Streamers, features nine live streamers in China from the post-pandemic period of 2021, a time when outdoor travel and activities were still heavily restricted.
The pandemic dramatically changed people’s lifestyles over the previous two years. People became accustomed to connecting with the outside world through the internet and smartphones.
Some began to showcase their talents through live streaming or by posting videos and photos on social media, with a number of them establishing successful careers as live streamers. These creators often bring joy or knowledge to audiences, amassing millions of followers, and this connectivity has significantly impacted both their own lives and those of their viewers.
For example, one comedian performs humorous shows while living in a very rural town, yet is able to connect with the outside world through the internet. A truck driver shares his experience and expertise in driving and repairing trucks, while Dr. Dai has become highly popular by presenting chemical experiment education for children. When creating each photograph, I chose to display the objects related to their live-streaming work and selected backgrounds typical of their streaming environments, allowing viewers to better understand the stories of the subjects.
This series is a branch of my larger long-term project, Family Stuff, in which I stage people’s belongings and photograph them surrounded by their possessions. The project has been ongoing for 22 years and includes 160 photographs. In 2015, I photographed people alongside items they had purchased online, which was the first body of work to reflect how internet connectivity had changed our lives. The Stuffs of Live Streamers was created in 2021, when I observed that online habits had universally shifted from computers to smartphones, enhancing real-time information exchange and profoundly transforming everyday lifestyles.
About Qingjun Huang
Qingjun Huang is a freelance artist born and raised in China and currently based in the United States. His representative body of work is the photography series Family Stuff, which includes more than 160 works. The project began in 2003 and is ongoing. Robert Frank once remarked, “Your work is an open window through which to look at China.” Family Stuff has been exhibited internationally at institutions and festivals including Kunsthalle München in Germany, Christie’s London, the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Switzerland, Chengdu Art Museum, Hunan Art Museum, Xi’an Art Museum, Three Shadows Photography Art Center in China, Head On Photo Festival in Australia, Photoquai Photography Biennial in France, Singapore International Photography Festival, Helsinki Photo Festival, the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece, and the College of Lake County in the United States, among others.
Huang’s work has been featured four times by the BBC and published by The New York Times, Bloomberg, Wired, Business Insider, The Guardian, and China Daily. His photographs have also appeared in books and magazines such as HUMAN.KIND, National Geographic, Harvard Business Review, My House My Room, Family Photography Now, Architecture Boston, Chinese Photography, and Grazia. His work has been included in educational textbooks by Oxford University Press and National Geographic Learning.
Huang’s works have been juried into the permanent collections of several museums, including the Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Figge Art Museum, Appleton Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Florida Atlantic University Galleries, and Chengdu Art Museum, among others. [Official Website]
