Jia Ying Huang (Bessy Huang) is a visual artist whose interdisciplinary background spans short film direction, photography, and creative direction. Active across the UK and Europe, her works have been exhibited in the UK, France, Spain, and more. Deeply rooted in her personal experiences, Huang’s practice consistently explores the multiplicity and complexity of identity.
In Proof of Existence, a collaborative project in which she served as Creative Director, Bessy Huang seamlessly merges surrealist aesthetics with urgent social themes, crafting a visual world that is both fantastical and deeply rooted in emotional and political realities. The series was exhibited at the 2024 InCadaqués Photo Festival in Cadaqués, Spain, and the 2025 Bush+ Lens exhibition at Çiçek Art Gallery in London. Its powerful celebration of human diversity resonate with striking relevance today.
Costume as Character: Personality through Fabric
Bessy Huang’s fashion background plays a critical role in shaping her visual narratives. In Proof of Existence, she borrows cinematic strategies—using costume and design as external signifiers to reveal character traits and narrative backdrops. Through bold material juxtapositions and vivid color contrasts, she breathes life into each persona. What’s particularly striking is how the costumes, while often theatrical and visually loud, remain in perfect harmony with their surroundings. Whether it’s a green-blue palette echoing the grass and sky of a golf course, a graphic suit resonating with diamond-patterned floors, or hair and accessories reflecting the colors of corridors, walls, and advertisements—Huang demonstrates a masterful balance between tension and harmony. This interplay is a hallmark of a mature visual language.
Setting the Scene: The Everyday as a Stage for the Unordinary
The series was shot entirely in outdoor, naturally lit environments—no artificial lighting, no constructed sets. This choice heightens the contrast between the characters’ eccentric attire and the familiarity of their environments. These are places we’ve all passed through, but would we dare inhabit them as unapologetically as the characters do? This contrast also raises deeper questions. Are these costumes merely garments, or are they material expressions of inner truth? Huang’s interplay of the ordinary and the extraordinary opens narrative and psychological space, allowing viewers to project, question, and imagine freely.
Gaze and Power: Flipping the Viewer’s Position
One of the series’ most compelling visual strategies is its direct engagement with the viewer. Each model stares directly into the lens, aware of the camera’s presence. In doing so, Huang flips the conventional dynamic: the observer becomes the observed. This reversal challenges the viewer to reflect on their own role in shaping and responding to cultural norms around identity and presentation. These gazes are not confrontational but invitational—drawing us into a deeper conversation about authenticity, visibility, and self-expression.
Challenging the Norm: Who Gets to Define “Normal”?
At its core, Proof of Existence interrogates the very notion of what is considered “correct” or “normal” in society. In an increasingly standardized and rule-bound world, Huang asks: Who defines these norms? Who benefits from them? Collaborating with Zebedee Talent Agency—a pioneering organization that represents disabled and visibly different talent—Huang’s casting choices make a clear statement. The models in her images do not seek to blend in or be tolerated; they command presence. Their visibility is not symbolic—it’s empowered, deliberate, and transformative.
Living Truthfully: A Call for Radical Authenticity
Above all, Proof of Existence is a celebration of radical authenticity. It showcases individuals who embrace their uniqueness and challenge imposed limits, inviting us to do the same. In a world often governed by conformity, Huang’s work reminds us of the beauty in difference. ‘The creator may have given us similar bodies, but each of us was gifted a unique soul and mind.’ Through her signature blend of emotional precision and visual poetry, Bessy Huang calls for a collective awakening—not merely to tolerate diversity, but to celebrate it.
The project is set to be published as a photobook and officially launched in London during 2025–2026 by Kahl Editions, further extending its impact beyond gallery walls and into the hands of a wider public. This publication aims to continue the dialogue around identity, visibility, and belonging—one image, one page at a time.
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