He Ming

jury statement

★
China /// China
★

Understated and elegant in feel, format and colour, the design of this book is just as minimalist and quiet as the ink drawings it presents. The combination of grey, black and white works perfectly here. The monochrome black printing of both text and images is complemented by the subtle grey colour of the cover. Both the inside pages and cover are pleasant to the touch, rounding off a well-made object that sits comfortably in the hand.

What Lies with He is made up of two volumes with different reading directions – horizontal and vertical. The unique binding brings the images together to form a cohesive collection. The flow between the two page orientations is organic and functional yet highly engaging and playful. The two parts are visually and haptically separated by roughened edges. One of the book edges thus has a rough finish, but which depends on the reading direction.

Inside, the images take centre stage. Although there is some text, it is unobtrusive and recedes into the background. The collected ink drawings, reminiscent of black-and-white still life photography, are arranged in a sequence of light to dark tones. The reproduction of the images lends them a photographic quality.