At home with Li Mingshen

A Monday morning find – photographer Li Mingshen from Shanghai Normal University who has taken a series of photographs showing people simply just staying at home…simply being…simply comfortable in their own surroundings. They create articulate and clear stories as to what the Chinese youth society today are immersed in, play with, get lost into, work hard towards. With a sense of personal and visual chaos and destruction in each image, they show their individual potential futures, both positive and negative, and current states of mind.

“I often think, ‘what do [people] do while they are staying at home alone, what’s their mental state?’ So I picked up a camera to explore the lives of post-90s homebodies, hoping to get some answers.” – Li Mingshen

Yi loves to go out shopping and experimenting with makeup. She is also a huge fan of Japanese style dress-up.

Jie is a boy who likes to exercise and play video games. He has been trying to lose weight, but is often distracted for various (and obvious) reasons.

Zhou is a typical female otaku (宅女). She loves to eat snacks, often looks stupefied, she thinks nothing means everything and regularly finds herself lost in daydreams.

Ai likes to play video games but his parents are very strict about it. That’s why he does it when nobody else is home.

Qian’s parents are teachers, and she’s been pushed into learning music and playing piano since she was very little. She often feels irritable.

BRIDY, whose dream is to study abroad, has been studying English at home for a long time. The high school student took the SAT examinations and has been accepted to an American university.

Qian is energetic but often feels lonely, so he releases his energy in a “special” way.

Hong’s parents are extremely strict and never let her out of her room, so she often talks to her dolls.

Hei is addicted to drinking and smoking cigarettes. He doesn’t want his habits to affect his family, so he often hides in the bathroom of his home to suck down his vices.

Jie has enjoyed reading comic books like Three Kingdoms since he was a kid. He’s read many classic novels but the comics remain his go-to reading material.