Blink Of An Eye

Visual artist Chen Man’s personal aesthetic is one steeped in traditional Chinese culture, yet thoroughly modern in execution.

- Lynette Kee

Every time you blink, there’s no one thing that remains the same. Or so suggests Chen Man, whose hyper-realistic, time-revealing photographs capture the passing chapters of her subjects’ life stories. Chen’s childhood was one peppered with fleeting yet culturally important moments. She was born in the midst of China’s Cultural Revolution. At 2 years old, while most would struggle to wrap their fingers around a pencil, Chen was helping her father paint advertisement posters.

If Chen’s artistic inclination first drew her to pick up a paintbrush, she later substituted that with a camera. She also explored graphic design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, which she used to combine with her photographic works. That was when multimedia art was in its infancy. To Chen, it wasn’t a matter of foresight or talent; she was simply reacting to time. “With the technology and software now appearing, everything that has happened is inevitable,” she says, drawing the interconnectedness of the world as a giant web. As a young Chinese woman from the large capital of Beijing, Chen has her sights set on places far beyond — a spirit that is emboldened by Piaget, who has named her one of its “Extraordinary Women” to lead its latest campaign spotlighting new editions of the Piaget Limelight Gala collection.