Feng Li’s photos capture surreal moments in everyday life

Feng Li has a gift for spotting oddities in seemingly mundane scenarios. Looking at the world through his sharp eye, even the most ordinary scene can be rendered funny, charming, slightly magical, and loaded with meaning or mystery. His photographs reveal the world to us in new, curious ways, drawing our attention to the spectacles we would likely otherwise miss – the “unbelievable coincidences” that Li, camera perpetually in hand, captures quickly and instinctively. Talking to Dazed, he describes these uncanny moments as “surrealism within reality” – the real and the unreal converging bizarrely and theatrically in the same shared space for that fleeting second and immortalised in the light of his penetrating flash. 

A major new exhibition, White Nights in Wonderland at Fotografiska, Berlin, presents approximately 150 images taken over the past two decades by the self-taught fashion and street photographer. Shot on the streets of Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai and his hometown, Chengdu, they create an uncanny procession of beauty, humour, irony and humanity, all rendered in Li’s distinctive sense of composition and colour.

Below, we chat with Feng Li about White Night in Wonderland, artistic intuition, his desire to capture the life’s “absurdities”.

For those who may not yet be familiar with your work, please could you describe the unique world you create within your photographs?

Feng Li: I never think my vision is any different from anyone else’s. I simply use my camera to record how I feel about the world, to recognise and respond to everything I see through personal experience. Some of these moments are absurd and comical, some are sharply satirical to the point of disbelief. Yet my photographs always carry a gentle reminder. I don’t intend to change anything; I just want to show what I have seen.

Placing two photographs side by side can be a magical act; it instantly creates a story. What kinds of narratives, atmospheres, and ideas emerge from the presentation of your work in this exhibition?

Feng Li: The juxtapositions bring forth something new, or they amplify what I intended to capture. My photographs are fragmented collections; I never impose themes or narrative structures on myself. And yet, there are always hidden intuitive connections, as if an invisible force led me to encounter images that echo one another.

For this exhibition, the display was decided with curator Holly Roussell. I had never before separated my work into clearly defined periods, because in my own view, I don’t work in ‘series’ or ‘projects’. I just take photographs, and for me, they are all part of the same continuum. But I wanted to try, and I found it rewarding. We spent a great deal of time selecting the images and considering their sequence. I have so many photographs that the process was exhausting, but worthwhile.

I never impose themes or narrative structures on myself. And yet, there are always hidden intuitive connections, as if an invisible force led me to encounter images that echo one another – Feng Li

One gallery I find especially interesting is the one with White Night. Those large lightboxes contain very early works from 2005, when I was sent to the outskirts of Chengdu to photograph a newly built amusement park and construction site. The place was utterly surreal, and the experience transformed both me and my work. In the exhibition, those early black-and-white lightbox photographs are shown alongside later vertical colour images – an approach that grew from that encounter and reflects my ongoing desire to capture the absurd aspects of reality.

As a self-taught artist, what qualities do you feel you might have lost had you been formally trained in an academy?

Feng Li: I never received formal art training, so I don’t know exactly what I might have learned in an academy. My background was in medicine, but after graduation I never pursued that path. I believe education teaches you methods and tools – but how you use those tools to create is something only you can discover for yourself. In art, intuition is sometimes freer and more inventive than reason.

It is often said that there’s a sense of strangeness or uncanniness running through your work. What draws you to this quality?

Feng Li: I often wonder why I seem to encounter things that are strangely out of the ordinary, even though I am in the most ordinary places. This kind of surrealism within reality fascinates me deeply. My life often feels filled with unbelievable coincidences. More and more, I believe that every question eventually circles back to philosophy.

In what ways does this quality usually manifest in your images?

Feng Li: I rely on intuition and directness, using flash and quick shots to freeze meaningful moments. I don’t embellish; I preserve the raw immediacy of the scene, while at the same time presenting an atmosphere that feels unreal.

In truth, I never think about colour, light, or composition. Reality doesn’t give me time for such considerations. All I can do is seize the image before it disappears, so the photograph becomes my evidence as a witness. Perhaps this is why my images often carry an unexpected sense of unease.

I seem to encounter things that are strangely out of the ordinary, even though I am in the most ordinary places. This kind of surrealism within reality fascinates me deeply – Feng Li

Can you give us any insights into your creative practice?

Feng Li: Always keep your curiosity alive.

How central is photography to your everyday life?

Feng Li: I always carry a camera at all times. Photography has become as instinctive as breathing.

What kinds of moments or situations prompt you to pick up your camera?

Feng Li: I only know to release the shutter in that fleeting instant when I see it. Before that moment, I know nothing.

As an artist, what are you most devoted to?

Feng Li: When everything becomes instinct, there is no longer such a thing as obsession. Art is the very last thing that requires obsession; it exists in a state that wavers between asking and answering oneself.

Finally, could you share a piece of advice with young photographers who are still growing in their practice?

Feng Li: Don’t trust other people’s advice or experience. Only your own will be of real value.

White Nights in Wonderland is running at Berlin’s Fotografiska until 16 November 2025.