There is an energy we channel when we navigate through life, an energy we seldom pause to consider. Yet, it’s this intangible force that Jung-Ai Chu manages to capture through her photography. We’ve all experienced it: slowing our pace when walking alone, quickening our steps after emerging from a subway station, or glancing at our phones to orient ourselves to the next destination.
Whether photographing a sea of pedestrians from ground level or the headlights of many cars in a long exposure image that makes a night-time scene feel like daylight she captures the energy and dynamism of a city.
At the same time, she captures moments of serene observation. A lone walker on a beach looks up at a row of tightly packed houses or passersby stop to observe a giant spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois. While there are hints in each image on where they were taken, Jung-Ai feels more interested in the emotional resonance of the work – whether that’s the buzz of urban life or something more pedestrian in the quieter moments.
Her use of black-and-white photography and long exposures lends her work a timeless quality, even when the subjects themselves reflect contemporary life. This approach heightens the drama in her images, inviting viewers to linger and uncover hidden details: the cloud formations above rippling waves, the “24h” sign beside a road, or the neatly ordered maps on a Japanese subway platform.
Each photograph is a snapshot in time and captures only a fraction of a second – a transitional moment that is part of a larger, untold story. It’s this narrative I see in Jung-Ai’s work that makes me want to know more, where are those pedestrians rushing to? What is happening in those beachfront houses? Where are those people heading to on a rainy street and how do they feel? We’ll never know and that’s the beauty of these works that open up the door for us to imagine their fates.
Her work has appeared in an exhibition in Taipei, titled ‘A Tribute to Moriyama Daido’. The influence of Moriyama is evident in her candid street photography, echoing his distinctive style.
Jung-Ai has also curated photography exhibitions, bringing together like-minded artists. These include the ‘Resonant Superposition Art Exhibition’ and the ‘FUJI Photography Art Exhibition’ which presented the works of Makoto Lin, the former Chief Photographer to the Head of State in Taiwan. The exhibition explored Makoto’s years of insight into photographic art through multiple subthemes, using diverse perspectives of Mount Fuji to convey his research and perceptions. There are also plans to bring this exhibition to London in either December or February, so we’ll hopefully have the chance to see the works in person in the UK
The combination of her photography and her curation explores how fleeting moments of daily life and the design of urban landscapes shape human behaviour, creating a dialogue between architecture and experience.
More information about the artist may be found on her website.
All images copyright Jung-Ai Chu.
