Person
Artist
Zhang Hai'er
张海儿
Date of birth
1957
Place Of birth
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Biography
Born in Guangzhou in 1957, Zhang Hai’er studied stage design, graduating from the Shanghai Theatre Academy in 1982. He worked as an art director and set designer for the Guangdong TV Network before studying for an MFA in oil painting at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, leaving before graduation to pursue a career in photography. Zhang is recognized as one of the pioneers of experimental contemporary photography in China: together with four other young Chinese photographers he was invited to participate in the prestigious Arles Photography Festival in France in 1988, an event that first exposed contemporary Chinese photography to western audiences. His work has been shown in group and solo exhibitions in internationally. Zhang lives in Guangzhou and Paris, but now works only in China