Most recently, with Fragile Balance, Haiying Nie combines photography, environmental commentary, and material experimentation into a suggestive inquiry about nature and human intervention. In this last series, she uses photography not as a flat medium but as one that can be transformed. She first began to manipulate her images in a series of technicolor marine ecosystems, with her own process of layering and manipulating the layers of emulsion. The final pieces transcend their photographic origin, becoming almost tactile and multidimensional states of underwater turmoil. Through the intentional violation of the images’ slick surfaces, the works convey a vague voice of alarm and meditation on the related environmental devastation taking place in these tender, liquid landscapes.

What distinguishes Nie’s work is her ability to transform calm, nearly pastoral images of underwater life into mysteriously abstract places with seamless ease. The crumpled, shattered surfaces of the images are thus metaphors for the wreckage caused by human-induced climate change, pollution, and other threats. In manipulating her photographs in this way, Nie is not recording environmental decay but embodying it in the very physicality of her work. Sea anemones, jellyfish, and corals are therefore twisted from their bright and regular selves into becoming an unfamiliar and alien distortion of them. It is in this transformation to distortion that the audience begins to question their ability to contribute to the destruction of fragile environments.

Therefore, in Fragile Balance, it’s through the manipulation of light and color that Nie grasps this emotional beauty and underpinning vulnerability, both tied to these ecosystems. The vivid colors were used in such a way that they created tension between being enigmatic with admiration for the beauty of the subject matter and discomfort from its distortion. Manipulation of the emulsion surfaces further engages the viewer into the tactile qualities, offering an experience that is purely sensory and not only based on observation. The visual and emotional interface that the work of Nie allows for implores us to feel the effect of environmental degradation from the inside.

Surely what Nie does goes deeper: with her help, the outlook on reality for us is shaken, and in her best works, she raises some important questions about our interaction with nature. She symbolically cracks the clarity of her photographs, breaking the illusion of a perfect, unharmed world full of hurt. Her work is at the same time a metaphor for and an injunction to all who see it to reflect on matters of extreme urgency in terms of preservation and our role in the ongoing story of environmental conservation.

Junhao Wu (b.1996 Jiangxi, China) is an artist currently based in London. Graduated from MA Contemporary Photography; Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins in 2022.

In 1956, Richard Hamilton’s collage “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?” was exhibited in London, an event widely regarded as the birth of Pop Art. Over sixty years later, driven by digitalization and globalization, our era has seen both continuities and profound transformations compared to that time. So, how can we describe the current age?

Contemporary philosopher Byung-Chul Han offers a unique perspective:

“Smoothness (das Glatte) is the label of our time. It can connect Jeff Koons’s sculptures, Apple phones, and Brazilian waxes. Today, why do we perceive smoothness as a form of beauty? Beyond its aesthetic effects, smoothness reflects a general social demand; it is a microcosm of today’s positive society (Positivgesellschaft). Smoothness causes no harm and offers no resistance. What it demands is ‘likes’. Smooth objects eliminate their opposites. All negativity (Negativität) is removed.

Smoothness is not limited to the appearance of digital machines. The communication achieved through digital machines also shows smoothness. People primarily communicate about pleasant, positive things. Sharing and liking are means of making communication smooth. Negativity is excluded because it impedes the speed of communication.”
— Byung-Chul Han, Saving Beauty, 2019

Inspired by these thinkers, artist Junhao Wu chose McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish as the symbol to describe the life around him, because the McDonald’s/Filet-O-Fish is smooth, fast, and standardized enough. In his view, the fast-paced lifestyle represented by modern fast-food giants like McDonald’s is much like the post-internet era in which we live, surrounded by rapid and overwhelming information. Social media envelops us in a flood of fragmented information, akin to the “junk food” of social life—high in “calories” but low in “nutrition.” People are exhausted by it, yearning for authenticity but unable to escape.

Furthermore, the Filet-O-Fish, considered the most “cost-effective” burger among McDonald’s offerings, symbolizes the survival reality of many in the post-Covid world amid a global economic downturn. They must seek more cost-effective ways of living, to survive, to obtain cost-effective calories, to find a delicate balance in a life high in calories but low in nutrition. This is not the disciplined “lifestyle” from an elite perspective, not the “smooth life,” but a helpless choice made after weighing options.

A deeper metaphor lies in the fact that the standardized Filet-O-Fish produced by McDonald’s worldwide follows the same procedures, ingredients, and “bun.” Despite seeming identical, each Filet-O-Fish differs in the surface of the “bun”—some buns are smooth and flat, while others are slightly wrinkled. This raises a deeper question: for the masses, in facing an uncertain tomorrow, is it only the smooth and perfect bun, the more positive mindset, or the smoother and more perfect life that is worth pursuing?

In response to these questions, in September 2021, Junhao began a Typology Photography project, or rather, a Rule Art practice. He started visiting various McDonald’s outlets across the UK and Europe, eating Filet-O-Fish, documenting his experiences, and using his iPhone to shoot the Filet-O-Fish from a top-down perspective, then casually posting these photos on various social media platforms… Initially, Junhao simply wanted to understand whether the presentation of a more perfect lifestyle on contemporary social platforms was the only way to gain more attention and traffic. He attempted to use the daily act of “eating McDonald’s,” which does not belong to elite narratives, and the various Filet-O-Fish, to challenge the standardized narrative of the perfect life on social platforms and to advocate for those real and imperfect things in life.

Unexpectedly, within half a month of uploading the photos, Junhao’s social media account gained 10k followers, but most comments were about “why is your Filet-O-Fish so smooth?” “How can I get a Filet-O-Fish as smooth as yours?” Some even emulated Junhao by using beautification apps‘ smoothing filters to smooth their Filet-O-Fish in pursuit more attention and likes. This ran counter to Junhao’s original intention of satirical critique through questioning the narrative of a perfect life but made him realize that his original attempt at irony and critique had, to some extent, reinforced the myth of “smoothness.”

Thus, Junhao decided not to stop at the simple “photograph and publish” level of visual expression but to add more written content, turning his focus to how to use his account’s existing influence to help the post-pandemic “young generation, who are not wealthy and just stepping into society,” cope with life’s uncertainties and find ways to adapt to the new normal. Over the past two years, this account has spawned popular topics in the Chinese internet like “McWorship” and “McAmen,” gaining Junhao’s social media account 47k followers and over 5 million views. He even received an invitation from McDonald’s China headquarters to join the company. However, Junhao chose to decline this opportunity to maintain his independence and the purity of his artistic expression. Today, this project has completed a full artistic event loop, from initial satire and exploration to sparking social concern, ultimately becoming a phenomenon in contemporary digital culture. All of this is undoubtedly a powerful response to contemporary lifestyles and the best interpretation of what contemporary art truly is.

Richard Hamilton wrote in a letter to Peter and Alison Smithson on January 16, 1957:

“Pop Art is: Popular (designed for a mass audience), Transient (short-term solution), Expendable (easily forgotten), Low cost, Mass produced, Young (aimed at youth), Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big business.”

Although these descriptions rarely mention Fine Art, as Fine Art is usually endowed with a sense of eternity, serious purpose, and significant material value, the Pop artists of the time attempted to challenge the elitism within academic traditions, much like the Dadaist movement during World War I, which challenged the way art was perceived as a symbol of social and economic status.

It is suggested that Junhao’s project is undoubtedly a continuation of the spirit of contemporary Pop Art. Through deep exploration and reflection on contemporary popular culture, he further questions and challenges the commercialization of art. His work is not merely a depiction of popular culture but a critique and reflection on contemporary lifestyles. Through seemingly simple daily actions, such as checkpoint at different McDonald’s and eating Filet-O-Fish, he reveals the pursuit of “smooth life” in the post-internet era, the neglect of real life, the fanaticism for traffic, and whether the purpose of photography and creation has now superseded the purpose of life in today’s convenient and advanced photographic technology. His work not only inherits the use and appropriation of mass culture in Pop Art but also extends it to the context of modern digital media, critiquing the over-promotion and excessive guidance towards “perfect” and “refined” life on contemporary social platforms, it compels us to rethink: Just what is it that makes today’s homies so different, so appealing?

You can learn more about Junhao Wu through his website and Instagram.