Herin Tang

Some Fantasy, A Little Pain, The Destructive, The Beautiful

This project takes the form of a handmade photobook titled Some Fantasy, A Little Pain, The Destructive, The Beautiful, composed of photographic images and interwoven text. The work centers on an ongoing exploration of self-recognition, bringing together photographs taken over recent years alongside written reflections. Through the interplay of image and text, I seek to understand how inner feelings gradually take shape, settle over time, and begin to generate meaning.

“This exploration is deeply shaped by East Asian cultural contexts and my personal upbringing, particularly within a relatively conservative environment that emphasizes collectivism. Concepts such as impermanence, subtlety, and the expressive potential of absence inform not only my understanding of emotions and relationships, but also the rhythm and structure of the book, where both images and text make use of restraint and space, allowing meaning to emerge through what remains unspoken.”