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Hidden Narrations in Photograph-Manipulated Cityscapes

Artist Xing Danwen puts role players in her urban models.

Artist Xing Danwen's work Urban Fictions portrays urban monotony, a quality that underlies life in so many cities around the world. These large scale photographs are of models that Xing built using digital prints. Xing's cities represent a seemingly ideal urban living environment—peaceful, orderly, and clean, with everything in its place.

Looking into these structures closely, you’ll notice little scenes occurring. A woman standing on top of a building, a couple making out, a man smoking a cigarette—the everyday goings-on of city life represented within this relatively massive setting make us contemplate our own day-to-day actions in the concrete mazes we call home. Although, some of the activities occurring in Urban Fictions are not so everyday. Riding a bike is one thing, but knife murder might not fit the category of “mundane daily activities.”

Below, see images of Urban Fictions with detail shots below each wide shot.

Images Courtesy of Xing Danwen.