BREATHTAKING HAILUN MA
Stunning Fashion, Culture + Expression
At the intersection of fashion and high art, photography has long maintained a beat that makes both art forms dance. Introduce social commentary into the room, and you have a Hailun Ma exhibition. Fashion and costuming play a leading role in images that might otherwise feel quite classic or documentative portraiture, and her unmistakable point of view brings an intellectual freshness to the field that far strikes us as the voice of a new generation.
Each image makes our breath catch in our throats.
Ma’s premiere solo exhibition, Hometown, just opened at Foam in Amsterdam. The show layers a complex collection of messages on the realities of daily life in Xinjiang, China, complicated family dynamics, and the intricate relationship between internalized culture and external expression.
Ma seems deeply at home with the composition of each and every shot. New York Magazine, i-D, GQ China and Vogue have all featured her work in recent years, and her comfort level and fluency with haute couture are readily apparent. For all of the unexpected flourishes and gestures of her point of view, there’s a sense of ease in her work that implies she is glad to share her home with us as she sees it.
She juxtaposes couture pieces with everyday life in many of her images; asymmetrical leopard-print lingerie and a mauve, tiered lace maxi skirt aren’t the only pieces in one image – the motorcycle in the background, too, is “dressed” in a cherry lace cover that appears, dare we say, tailored. In another photograph, a boxer sports a white column gown on top of her traditional athletic garb, boxing gloves included.
Overall, Hometown is a bright and delightfully unexpected romp through one of the most complex cultures in the world. To experience it in a city like Amsterdam is a warm reminder that home may not always be something to which you can return, but it is something you take with you. No matter how far you travel, it’s never truly far.