In a recent interview, Bai Xiaoci talked about the background of his project "I Live In Here" and his approach towards work like it.

1. When did you start to get interested in photography?

Five years ago.

2. What made you start the "I Live In Here" project?

In the last ten years Shenzhen’s population has been expanding rapidly. People from all over the country stream into this city, the city’s population has already surpassed the 15 million mark. This huge population base, together with Shenzhen’s unique location facing overseas, creates a vast variety of different living conditions. Different culture context communities – Hakkas, Guangdong, Central China, colony culture and western culture are all melt together, constituting some kind of giant database of living conditions.

I witnessed the rapid change of Shenzhen’s urbanization and I wanted to record it with my camera. Susan Sontag said that "collecting pictures means collecting the world”. I actually am collecting Shenzhen.

3. Is there a direct link between your "City Capture" blog and the "I Live In Here" project?

I think that the “I Live In Here” project with the variety of living conditions in Shenzhen corresponds with my blog “City and Urbanization in my eyes”. So it is a sub-project of my blog.

4. Is the perspective you take in the "I Live In Here" series in your opinion subjective or objective? Have you added elements of your own to the images or were you trying a more documentary approach? Does that mean that the audience needs to value your work by themselves?

The project can be divided into two phases: the first phase was a down-to-earth documentary style shooting. Under the premise of trying to guarantee quality, I was pursuing quantity. But after documenting 150 households, I started to take into consideration the social status and circumstances of my subjects. So in the second phase, the work is more influenced by my personal views.

Shenzhen – Home to more than 15 million people.
Most of whom are migrant workers.

5. How do you choose your subjects? I have heard that you have asked hundreds of people to get the chance to photograph them at home?

My subjects all have something in common. They are more or less anxious about the transition period China is facing at the moment. They are not sure about the future, even the rich people. Even after they are in possession of wealth and social resources some of them are considering going abroad. It was difficult trying to take their photographs. A lot of persuasion was involved from my side, sometimes successful, sometimes not.

6. Do you have certain degrees of interactions with your subjects? How do you get them to forget about the camera? 

I chat with them before each shooting and I set up camera and tripod at the last moment. I do my homework before I go to see them; I try to find topics and subjects that we have in common. If they are foreigners or local Chinese from Guangdong province who don’t speak mandarin, I bring a translator.

7. What were you looking for, visually and in terms of content?

The visual style can be seen in a pure documentary context. Considering the form, my photos are what Benjamin called “products of an era of mechanical reproduction", but I know that the content of the pictures is of a way more sensual nature.

8. If you were to describe yourself and your work to a stranger, what would you say?

My name is Shen, Xiaoming, I live in Shenzhen. I take photos of Chinese cities and their urbanization.

9. Which of the masters of photography do you admire the most?

Quite a lot, can’t list them all, mostly foreigners.

10. What is next for you? What projects/subjects are you currently working on?

A project about the status quo of Rural Christians in Jiangsu and Zhejiang province.

Thank you very much!

Please also note this article about Shenzhen in The New York Times (published December 19th, 2006)