Born in 1962 in France, the self-taught photographer Yann Layma (called Yan Lei in Chinese) has witnessed the changes, the opening and the economic boom of China. Layma studied Chinese language at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales in Paris and then at the National Taiwan University, before moving to China (Beijing) where he would spend almost two decades documenting it.
His colorist and humanist approach to photography was soon noticed, and international magazines published his works, such as Paris Match, Le Figaro Magazine, Stern, Life, Time, le New York Times, le Sunday Times, El País, and GEO for whom he worked with for many years. His dedication to portray China through the camera allowed him to constitute an extensive visual archive, while exhibiting and publishing his photographs and personal experience.
