Snapshot: ‘Waking from Hibernation’ (2012), by Shan Feiming

This image, from the Chinese artist Shan Feiming’s forthcoming show, Waking from Hibernation, was taken beside a pond near Shan’s home in Hangzhou. The title is a translation of the Chinese word “jingzhé”, used to describe the third phase of the traditional east Asian calendar, when insects wake for spring.

“Seeing the same trees and scenery every day, I started to notice all the changes in colour through the seasons and in different weather,” says Shan.

“When I took these photographs, my life and career were in a state of flux. The tangled branches represent the confusion I needed to go through to arrive at the place of peace and stability where my soul desired to be.”

Born in Zhejiang province in 1978, Shan studied art at the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts. He was influenced by the photographs of the German film director Wim Wenders, and used the proceeds of a scholarship from the academy to buy his first camera before, in 2010, studying photography at the Brunswick Art Institute in Germany.

‘Waking from Hibernation’ is at the M97 Gallery, Shanghai, from March 8 (m97gallery.com)