Photographer Yiming Zhu is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘Before It’s Gone (Guangzhou, China)’. To see Yiming’s body of work, click on any photograph.

“The meaning of life is not found in devotion to eternal existence but instead in caring for what we know will be lost.”

Martin Hägglund

Fifteen years away from my hometown, I returned there only to find nothing left from my childhood memory. Drastic changes in this place prompted me to ponder the relationship between “memory” and “present”. I try to reconstruct this special connection, hoping to pave the way for us to revisit our memories across time and space. It is not a process of restoring memories, but an impulse to catch it before it vanishes. These “present” narrations build a bridge for the past and the future.

Artist Statement:

Yiming Zhu (b.1999) is a Chinese artist who works and lives in London. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in Photography. Her artistic practice is based on photography, integrated with installation and moving images. Yiming's artwork stems from reality, focusing on relationships between people’s mentalities and behaviors. Her artwork emphases on how to visualize life experiences and metaphors. Through fiction and imagination, she illustrates lost memories, unspeakable subconsciousness and enigmatic cultural metaphors, to invite the audiences to immerse in her visual narratives.

Recently, she travelled between the UK and China, discussing the interweaving of spirituality and women's identity in a particular intangible culture.

All images and text © Yiming Zhu