Yixi Tian   田一熙 

Yixi Tian (b. 1997, Guiyang, China) Photographer, based in the Netherlands

My practice begins from a simple principle: first a concrete person, then a problem.

I use photography to connect with and understand the people around me, developing long-term relationships before any image is made. My projects grow out of everyday encounters: entering rural schools through my roommate's educational concerns, documenting youth music and cultural spaces through a friend's band, and approaching Miao healing traditions through my mother's practice of Chinese medicine. These threads lead me into broader questions of education, the body, and local knowledge, but always through the person first.

Rather than speaking for or representing others, I work from within relationships, staying long enough for the person to appear in their own shape. I refuse to let concepts cover over encounter, or theory dilute presence. I call this approach being with. When other media are used, whether installation, archival work, or moving image, they serve the story of a person, never replace it.

If this kind of work is called boring today, so be it. I will be boring for the rest of my life.





Education



St. Joost School of Art&Design                           09/2024-Present
MA in Visual Arts and Post-Contemporary Practice
Fudan University                                                     09/2019-06/2022
MA in Editing and Publishing
Changsha University of Science and Technology                    
09/2015-06/2019
BA in Chinese Language and Literature

Awards & Recognition



2025 Best Photo Award, Rotterdam Photo Awards, Netherlands 2025
Most Surprising Award, Eye Filmmuseum ResearchLabs 2025, Netherlands 2025
Finalist (Top 20), Carte Blanche Students, Paris Photo & Picto Foundation 2025
Finalist, PORTRAITS – Hellerau Photography Award, Germany 2025
3rd Place, Portraiture, Rovinj Photodays, Croatia

2024
New Generation Prize Hon. Mention, PhMuseum Women Photographers Grant 2024
1st Prize, Cultural Practices, POY Asia Awards 2024
Shortlisted, Imageless Dummy Photobook Awards, China 2023
Shortlisted, Jimei x Arles Dummy Book Awards, China

Solo Exhibition


2026
Tell the Mountains We Never Leave, Maison de Mandrin Museum, Brioude, France


Group Exhibitions 

2026
I is Another, Willem Twee Kunstruimte, Den Bosch, Netherlands


2025
Portraits– Hellerau Photography Exhibition, Dresden, Germany
Rovinj Photodays Exhibition, Third Prize in Portrait Category, Croatia
Rotterdam Photo Festival 2025, Invite artists&Best Photo Award, Netherlands
Eye Filmmuseum ResearchLabs 2025, Most surprising Award, Netherlands
Photo Vogue Festival, Milan, Italy
IDPA Imageless Dummy Photobook Award Retrospective, Lumenvisum, Hong Kong


2024
Undoing the Museum, Stedelijk Museum Breda, Netherlands
9th Singapore International Photography Festival, Portfolio Showcase, Singapore


2023
Jimei×Arles International Photo Festival, Paper space, Xiamen, China
I Was Glad to Print This Sentence, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China

Artist residency & Grants


08/2025–07/2026Brioude Emerging Artist Residency (Brioude, France)
Selected for a one-year residency; conducting long-term fieldwork with exhibition and public lecture.


2025
The Alexia Faith Grant (Syracuse University, USA)
Work: Veiled by Cloud and Mist (2022–Present)


Leadership & Public programs

12/2020-06/2024
Founder & Lead Facilitator, Fudan University Graduate Photography Association (Shanghai) 
Founded a graduate student association at Fudan University focused on artistic photography research;
Curated and produced the workshop/lecture series Photography as a Method of Care, exploring photography as a tool for social connection；
Led member-led exhibitions and independent photobook projects from concept development and research to self-publishing and public presentation.

10/2025-Present
Independent Educator, Photography of Connection and Care: Observing the Concrete Person, Online (Netherlands-based)

Developed and delivered a 5-month program, combining methodological seminars with social practice;
Led participants through a full cycle of fieldwork, editing, and a public exhibition; photography used as a relational method to rebuild social connections.


Publications

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Self-published, 2022
Tomorrow will be longer, Self-published, 2023
Veiled by Cloud and Mist, Self-published, 2026