Yang Xingkun, photographer.

He received his BA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the University of the Arts London, and an MA in Visual Anthropology from Goldsmiths, University of London. During his doctoral study in the Department of China Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool University, his research took the “You Look” Photography Education Plan in Yushu, Qinghai as his research case, examining the production of children’s self-captured photographs in Qinghai areas and the mechanisms through which these images are selected, exhibited, and circulated within China’s mainstream visual and digital platform systems. Ironically, he was asked by his second supervisor to abandon his research topic—because it concerned Tibetan communities—or to withdraw from the programme. He chose the latter.

His artistic practice centres on different social groups. His representative project, The Invisible, documents the lived conditions of more than 30 people experiencing homelessness in London. His work has been published by media outlets including the BBC and The Guardian, and has been shortlisted for and recognised by several international awards.