Hong Lei (b. 1960) was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, and graduated from Nanjing University of the Arts in 1987. In 1992, he went to the China Central Academy of Fine Arts to pursue advanced studies in printmaking, following which he returned to Changzhou and soon started to use photography as a way of art representation.
One of the leading artists in the era of China’s New Photography movement in the 1990s, Hong Lei’s photography is inspired by his early art experience and learning from traditional Chinese paintings. The feeling of nostalgia pervades his works. A self-described literati, Hong Lei mourns the rapid loss of traditional Chinese culture and history through conceptual painting, installation, and photography-based work.
