We were lucky to catch up with Lingxue Hao recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lingxue, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I would like to talk about the project Moon Phase: The Moments Between Wax and Wane. It is the project I developed during my MFA degree at Savannah College of Art and Design in photography major. It is an interpretation of depression through the art of photography. My photographs explore my own experiences with this invisible disease. They represent the torment and pain that I navigate with major depression. They also record my constant struggle with mental health. This body of work acts as a visual diary about a depressive patient that I created as a photographer. The process of photographing and editing this project is also the process by which I find a productive way to communicate with the outside world. The purpose of my work is to help those who may be indirectly impacted by depression to understand mental illness more comprehensively and establish an accurate portrayal of this very real concern. We live in a society where people still hold prejudices against those with mental health issues and misunderstand them. My photos serve as an invitation to viewers to raise awareness and support for the people around them who struggle with this widespread issue.
Lingxue, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Lingxue Hao, and people usually called me Luna. I come from China and now live in Glendale, Los Angeles. In 2016, I worked as a food photographer for a while after getting a BFA degree in commercial photography from Beijing Film Academy. In November 2021 I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with an MFA in Photography. Now I work as a visual designer and photographer at the newly established art space The Scholart Selection. In addition to being responsible for the overall visual planning and recording in the team now, I also insist on personal creation, and continue to record love, loss, and reflection in daily life through my camera.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
First of all, the answer is yes; I often find it difficult for me to explain very clearly what my career and life are like to people who are not in the arts/creative fields. The most typical case is my parents; one is an engineer, and the other is a doctor, and they know that I work with images and visual types of content every day. At the same time, I found that at certain times, if I can’t explain my professional characteristics to people in different professional fields, they will mistakenly think that working in the art field and being an artist is a very easy thing. This often frustrates me, simply because for us the process and content of the work take place in the mind rather than being immediately visible in a physical way. As a photographer, I still struggle with how to explain to others that taking a picture is more than just clicking the shutter, especially with the ubiquity of digital and mobile photography. However, these experiences have given me great respect for whatever area I am not good at because I know that what I see with my eyes is only the tip of the iceberg above the surface of the water.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder around the time I decided to get my MFA degree. Some dark experiences at the time made me decide to start using a camera to record my illness. I really hope that this work and my photography will help raise awareness of depression.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lunahao.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luna___hao/
Image Credits
Daren Cheng Yajing Yao