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Shen Wei (simplified Chinese: 沈玮; traditional Chinese: 沈瑋; pinyin: shěn wěi) is a Chinese photographer known for his intimate portraits of others and himself, as well as his photographic exploration of contemporary China.

Born in Shanghai, China, Shen Wei lives in New York City. Having grown up in a shanty town in Yangpu District of Shanghai, he began his art training at an early age at a local Children's Palace.

Shen Wei’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. In 2007, American Photo magazine named Shen Wei one of the Top 15 Emerging Photographers in the world. In 2008, he was included in the Photo District News’ 30 photographers to watch list. Shen Wei is the winner of 2012 Philadelphia Museum of Art Photography Portfolio Competition.

Education
Shen Wei studied Decorative Art at Shanghai Light Industry College from 1995 to 1998. He worked as a graphic designer in Shanghai for two years before moving to the United States in 2000. He attended Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) where he discovered photography through a course about Diane Arbus. After receiving a BFA in photography from MCAD, he moved to New York City for his MFA study in photography, video and related media at the School of Visual Arts from which he graduated in 2006.



Major Projects
Shen Wei's first major project Almost Naked is a series of intimate and intense portraits of people whom he met in New York City and during his travels around the US. Most of his sitters were strangers to him. The project explores sexuality and identity, and is a reaction to Shen Wei's strict and conservative upbringing.

Shen Wei’s Chinese Sentiment series was photographed from 2008 to 2010 with numerous trips to Mainland China. The series is the artist’s personal journey to explore the authentic China, from both public and private perspectives. The series shows a poetic and romantic side of China. Consistent with Shen Wei's sensual and emotional style, the images are loving and keenly felt. Shen Wei’s first monograph, Chinese Sentiment, with an introduction by Peter Hessler, was published by Charles Lane Press (New York) in May, 2011.

Shen Wei started his series I Miss You Already during his Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center residency in Italy in 2009. The self-portrait series reveals the process of his self-reflection and self-discovery. In this series, the artist appears nude or semi-nude in each photograph, often in a fairytale-like and evocative atmosphere, seductive and complexed. The artist describes his series as a provocative way to explore his sense of security through understanding the tension between freedom and boundaries.

During 2010-2011, Shen Wei was commissioned by Aperture Foundation for an innovative New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene program known as Green Cart. It provides underserved communities with access to fresh fruits and vegetables via hundreds of independently owned, mobile produce stands. His project Table Setting was part of the exhibition Moveable Feast at the Museum of the City of New York in 2011. His radiant still-lifes of fruits and vegetables” were highlighted in the reviews of The New Yorker  and The Wall Street Journal.

Public Collections

 * Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
 * Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
 * J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
 * Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
 * Museum of Chinese in America, New York, NY
 * Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
 * Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
 * Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL
 * Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
 * Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona, FL
 * Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL
 * Kinsey Institute, Indianapolis, IN
 * Rockefeller Brothers Fund, New York, NY
 * The Starr Foundation, New York, NY