Shaohan Fang: Memory as a Mirror,the 2nd Place of our Numéro+ “Timeless Beauty” 3rd Contest

The second place in the 3rd Numéro+ Contest, “Timeless Beauty”, belongs to an artist who understands that beauty is not merely an appearance, but a wound, a silence, and a memory. Chinese photographer and videographer Shaohan Fang, through her short film “Portrait of a Family”, invites us to look inward —towards the spaces where nostalgia intertwines with love, and where childhood, shaped by distance, leaves traces that time cannot erase.

In her work, Fang transforms the ordinary into visual poetry. Through images that breathe and silences that speak, she takes us into the fractures of a family separated by circumstance —a reflection of 1990s China, when countless parents left their rural homes to seek better opportunities in the cities, leaving their children behind. These “left-behind children” grew up amid fading memories of affection and the slow acceptance of absence.

Drawing from her own experience, Shaohan rebuilds fragments of memory and turns them into a universal narrative about abandonment, longing, and the fragile desire to love again. Her short film captures the unease of reunion, the void of familial silence, and the struggle to reconnect with parents who have become almost strangers.

With a reflective, nonconformist, and defiant gaze, Fang makes the invisible visible —that emotional knot which binds and separates at once. Her images possess the delicacy of a memory and the strength of a confession. Each frame feels like a held breath, a thought suspended between pain and beauty.

It is no coincidence that Fang, internationally recognised for her work and education —holding an MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts, New York, as well as a master’s in engineering and a double degree in photography from the Communication University of China— has exhibited alongside renowned artists such as David Lynch, Roger Ballen, and Christopher Makos. Her visual language transcends borders, cultures, and tongues.

With “Portrait of a Family”, Shaohan Fang reminds us that art does not merely beautify —it heals, questions, and transforms. Her work embodies that timeless beauty which gives the contest its name: a beauty that lives within imperfection, within what is broken, within what is profoundly human.

Thus, from the echo of her own childhood, Fang elevates her personal story to the Olympus of the winners of this 3rd Numéro+ Contest —proving that true beauty endures time, because it is born of the soul.

Special Thanks

We wish to extend our deepest gratitude to NANLITE, the official sponsor of this contest, for illuminating—both literally and symbolically—the path of artists.Their unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation, and creativity shines through every tool they place in the hands of creators.