Stefen Chow 赵峰 (born in 1980 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is a Beijing based photographer and an accomplished adventurer. He started his interest in photography when he was one of the mountaineers scaling Mount Everest in 2005. At first trained in Mechanical Engineering and then in Photography, Chow has already been awarded several prizes and collaborated with international companies.
Among several series, one is particularly worth paying attention: "The Poverty Line" (started in 2010). This visual project – in collaboration with the economist Lin Hui-Yi – contextualizes the notion of poverty across several continents. "The Poverty Line" series shows strong conceptual and aesthetic qualities while asking a very simple question: what does it mean to be poor? Between data visualization and photography, each photograph portrays food items that poor people can afford per day. The above photographs represent China’s poverty line, which was 3.28 CNY in 2010 and has risen to 6.30 CNY (around one dollar) today.
