Interview: Artistic photographer Lean Lui

- Lean Lui, 21 years old, a self-taught fine-art photographer from Hong Kong, was invited by the art director of Christian Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri, to have a collaboration.

As Lean sat quietly on a campus bench, she made me think of a film still of late 90s Hong Kong. Floral dress, a fine bracelet, brown short hair and a hairpin with bright color. Like most young girls, Lean loves to dress herself up carefully with delicate make-up and accessories. She is obsessed with any elements relevant to beauty and feminism. Water, flowers and girls are three major elements in her photos. Her works are full of romantic and dreamy feelings.

‘But don’t get me wrong!’ as she ran with her bare feet on a wood floor and threw herself into sofa, Lean laughed out loud and said: ‘I’m boyish inside!’

Talking about her photography, Lean has her own talent and intuition to present her ideas. Although she has never been professionally trained in photography, her gifted works have been recognized by lots of senior photographers internationally. In July, this young photographer was invited by the art director of Christian Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri, to have a collaboration with fashion magazine FIGARO, and the subject was Maria’s daughter Rachele Regini.

Can you share the whole story with us?

The whole thing happened very quickly and dramatically. It was early in the morning when I received a call from my editor. She said that Maria Grazia Chuiri, the creative director of DIOR, wanted to invite me to do a 10-page styling in the first edition of FIGARO Hong Kong. I had to hand in the shooting script in half an hour, arrive in Paris the day after tomorrow, and the shooting would start the next day. I was flattered but meanwhile quite nervous, because I didn't have any experience of magazine photographing before, and I knew I couldn't afford to make any mistakes. It was 40 degrees in Paris after I arrived, I went to buy shooting materials with my editor, meanwhile, my family and friends were trying to help me solve all kinds of problems on line. They were so supportive and I was really touched.

What was your inspiration in this shooting?

Before this shooting, I went through all the interviews and designs of Maria Grazia, and found the common ground between her works and mine, we all have soft appearance with inner toughness, so this is my main shooting concept. People often describe DIOR's emphasis as feminism after Maria took over, but my interpretations is, thinking about the past to break through the future. Being inspired by this, I want to show the idea in a form of ‘destruction’. Because destruction to me is ‘I-define’ and ‘re-define’. I want to show that after I break something existing, I can redefine it in my own way.

How did you apply your ideas into your shooting?

I used a lot of broken objects in this shooting, such as burnt flowers, crushed macarons, and melted candles. For example, there is one that Rachele is surrounded by many candles and she is burning some flowers with a determined look, it feels like she’s saying ‘I am my own boss.’. The combination of flowers and fire represents the idea of integrating softness with toughness. I like to destroy something beautiful and vulnerable, because I don't want to be dominated by it, to take care of it carefully. Like the broken macaron, it was something sweet and pretty, and when I destroy it, I can feel a rebellious spirit to do whatever I want.

As a fine-art photographer, how did you balance artistic photography and fashion photography?

I learned about the brand history first, then blended my own style and ideas. For example, the scene of the previous photo I just mentioned, is a bit like a mysterious religious ceremony. Because Mr. Dior was interested in divination, so I wanted to put him as an abstract form in the photo. Maria is the first female director, which is definitely a milestone in the history of DIOR. I’m lucky to meet DIOR at this moment, so I wanted to record and integrate it.

More importantly, they gave me a lot of creating freedom. When I asked Rachele how she wanted to shoot and make up her hair, the most she said to me was "Anything you want!" Her trust made me feel comfortable in being myself and having fun. There’s a great difference between being treated as an artist or a photographer. The latter may just need your techniques, but the former is more about your aesthetics and thoughts.

All Photos credit to: Lean Lui