DESPITE HIS bob-length mop of messy hair, renowned photographer Wing Shya can't hide a severely sunburnt face. It looks agonising. Shya has just returned from a four-day trip to the southern border of southwest China, in Yunnan province, where, at an altitude of 3,800 metres, he felt the full effects of the sun.
But Shya was a man on a mission. A series of large-format negatives are the fruits of his toil. The 20 fashion shots he's taken for the next Shanghai Tang catalogue show why he's known as a master of detail and colour, juxtaposing a pale Slovakian model against a rural Chinese setting.
In the busy world of Shya-la-la Workshop, there's no time to look back. There are upcoming shoots for Lane Crawford department stores and On Pedder shoe boutiques, as well as a beauty campaign for Red Earth cosmetics. In between these jobs for big-name clients, Shya has contributed to a black-and-white exhibition called Wake Up! Photography is Art at the Art Statements gallery.
Of the eight local and four international artists taking part in the show (including Warren Leung Chi-wo, Ellen Pau, Patrick Lee, Andrew J. Loiterton, Erwin Olaf and Sam Samore), Shya probably best embodies the 'photography is art' message. Among his best known works are escapist stills of director Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together and angst-filled close-ups of In the Mood for Love, shot on specially hunted-down 1960s stock. His most recent collaborations with Wong are theatrical panoramic stills of 2046.
Like Wong, Shya has earned a place in pioneering Hong Kong's pop culture. From fashion to music, advertisements and even film directing, Shya's Chinese-meets-classicism-meets-beauty aesthetic is unmistakable. He was the guy who shot the tastefully naked photos of singer/actress Karen Mok Man-wai. He gave actress Gong Li a sharp edge for French Vogue. And, for a cinematic fashion-editorial spread for Louis Vuitton, he put actor Daniel Wu Yin-cho and Japanese model Ai Tominaga in an amorous moody drama.
For his Art Statements exhibition piece, Shya submitted a non-fashion and non-celebrity shot. 'It's a portrait of my friend, who's a hairdresser,' he says. 'This show is not about famous people or fashion. I deliberately submitted a very 'real' shot. To me, exhibitions are like cultural documentaries. The obvious, commercial side of photography isn't what showing in an art gallery should be about.'
