Print Date: 2024
Location: Primeval forest, Changping Valley, Sichuan
Camera Format: Large-format camera with Ilford sheet film
Medium: Gelatin silver print on chloride silver paper base
Edition: 2/20 + 2 AP
Framing:
Museum-grade acid-free mounting, Tru Vue anti-reflective glass, USA, custom dark hardwood frame
Signature: Signed by the artist
In the image, a broken tree trunk leans at the water's edge, together with the surrounding trees, rocks, and reflections forming a quiet yet weighty natural scene. Through black-and-white tonality and the delicate tonal scale of silver gelatin printing, the work presents a state in which traces of life and the order of nature coexist, allowing the "broken trunk" to become not only a specific object but also a visual sign of time, damage, and cyclical growth.
Zhang Yibin is Associate Professor at the School of Art and Design, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, and Deputy Director and Secretary-General of the Classical Photography Committee of the Zhejiang Photographers Association. He began studying traditional black-and-white silver gelatin photography in 1995, and since 2004 has devoted himself to its practice, teaching, and promotion, establishing his own traditional photography studio in Hangzhou while actively fostering international exchange, education, and exhibition projects in the field. His work focuses on the exploration of photography's intrinsic language, with an emphasis on the tonal richness and material qualities of classical silver gelatin practice.