xidong luo

Joined Artfinder: May 2024

Artworks for sale: 20

China

About xidong luo

 
 
  • Biography

    Xidong Luo is a self-taught fine art photographer based in Shenzhen, China. She specializes in mirror fantasies—a unique blend of self-portraiture and still life that captures life’s transient beauty, the inherent vulnerability of femininity, and the profound kinship between women and nature.  

    Deeply rooted in Taoist philosophy ( 物我合一“Heaven and earth coexist with me; all things and I are one”), Luo’s work visualizes the interconnectedness of all existence.

    Her signature mirrors draw inspiration from the Chinese idiom 镜花水月 ( “fllowers in a mirror, moon on water”) —a metaphor for life’s illusory and ephemeral nature. These reflective surfaces multiply dimensions, infusing her surreal compositions with emotional gravity while questioning reality’s very fabric.

    Luo’s artistic practice crystallized during China’s pandemic lockdowns, though its seeds were sown through earlier metamorphoses. After a decade as a portrait photographer and an IBM professional, her 7-year Himalayan backpacking odyssey fine-tuned her sensitivity to nature’s whispers—a dialogue that erupted into her Self-Reflection series when COVID-19 confined her to a world of mirrors and decaying botanicals.

    Years of dance practice manifest in every frame she creates. Her body communicates through trained precision: a fingertip’s tension echoes a poem’s caesura, a back’s curve holds the weight of unsaid words. This discipline allows her to distill elegance, rhythm, and raw femininity into a single gesture, making her self-portraits not mere images but choreographed meditations on existence.

    What began as pandemic catharsis has evolved into a meditation on existence itself. The falling leaves and withered flowers in her works function as memento vivere rather than memento mori; even their brittleness pulses with quiet resilience. Now exhibiting internationally, Luo’s work bridges Eastern philosophy, classical Chinese aesthetics, and contemporary surrealism, proving that a mirror can indeed hold the entire universe.

  • Links
  • Education

    1992 - 1996

    Hunan Normal University

  • Awards

    2024

    Nominee

    Fine Art Photography Awards, London

    Show more awards Hide

    2023

    Nominee

    9th Fine Art Photography Awards, London

    2023

    Honorable Mention + Annual Book

    Monochrome Awards

    2023

    Shortlist + Annual Book

    HAMDAN International Photography Award

    2023

    2nd place in Nude category

    Monovisions Award, London

    2023

    Honorable Mentions

    Julia Margaret Cameron Awards

    2022

    2nd place, Portrait Category(Pro)

    International Photography Awards (IPA)

    2022

    Honorable Mention

    Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA)

    2015

    2nd place in Newborn Category

    WPPI
  • Upcoming Events

    There are no upcoming events

    Show previous events Hide previous events

    Previous events

    Event: ImageNation Milan 2024

    Dates: 20 Sep 2024 - 29 Sep 2024

    Venue: Fondazione Luciana Matalon, Foro Buonaparte 67, Milan

    Celebrating women photographers and the female gaze

    Event: ImageNationParis2024

    Dates: 24 May 2024 - 26 May 2024

    Venue: Galerie Joseph Paris, 3 rue Solferino, 75007 Paris

    ImageNationParis

    Event: IPA 20th Anniversary

    Dates: 18 Nov 2023 - 3 Dec 2023

    Venue: Coastal City, Shenzhen, China, Nanshan District, Shenzhen City China

    in partnership w/ OnePlus

    Event: < MONOCHROMES >

    Dates: 15 Sep 2023 - 24 Sep 2023

    Venue: Millepiani Coworking, Rome, Rome, Italy

    by LoosenArt

    Event: < One >

    Dates: 9 Aug 2023 - 26 Aug 2023

    Venue: New York Center for Photography, New York

    Online Exhibition

    Event: < 40th Center Annual >

    Dates: 21 Jun 2023 - 20 Aug 2023

    Venue: Houston Center of Photography, Houston

    Exhibition at Houston Center of Photography, TX,

    Event: < Poetic Storytelling >

    Dates: 20 May 2023 - 3 Jun 2023

    Venue: Praxis Gallery, 2600 East 26th Street Minneapolis, MN

    Exhibition at Praxis Gallery, MN, USA

    Event: < Black & White >

    Dates: 13 May 2023 - 8 Jun 2023

    Venue: Decode Gallery, 314 S CONVENT TUCSON, AZ 85701

    Juried Group Exhibition at Decode Gallery, AZ, USA

Links


Education

1992 - 1996

Hunan Normal University


Awards

2024

Nominee

Fine Art Photography Awards, London

Show more awards Hide

2023

Nominee

9th Fine Art Photography Awards, London

2023

Honorable Mention + Annual Book

Monochrome Awards

2023

Shortlist + Annual Book

HAMDAN International Photography Award

2023

2nd place in Nude category

Monovisions Award, London

2023

Honorable Mentions

Julia Margaret Cameron Awards

2022

2nd place, Portrait Category(Pro)

International Photography Awards (IPA)

2022

Honorable Mention

Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA)

2015

2nd place in Newborn Category

WPPI

There are no upcoming events

Show previous events Hide previous events

Previous events

Event: ImageNation Milan 2024

Dates: 20 Sep 2024 - 29 Sep 2024

Venue: Fondazione Luciana Matalon, Foro Buonaparte 67, Milan

Celebrating women photographers and the female gaze

Event: ImageNationParis2024

Dates: 24 May 2024 - 26 May 2024

Venue: Galerie Joseph Paris, 3 rue Solferino, 75007 Paris

ImageNationParis

Event: IPA 20th Anniversary

Dates: 18 Nov 2023 - 3 Dec 2023

Venue: Coastal City, Shenzhen, China, Nanshan District, Shenzhen City China

in partnership w/ OnePlus

Event: < MONOCHROMES >

Dates: 15 Sep 2023 - 24 Sep 2023

Venue: Millepiani Coworking, Rome, Rome, Italy

by LoosenArt

Event: < One >

Dates: 9 Aug 2023 - 26 Aug 2023

Venue: New York Center for Photography, New York

Online Exhibition

Event: < 40th Center Annual >

Dates: 21 Jun 2023 - 20 Aug 2023

Venue: Houston Center of Photography, Houston

Exhibition at Houston Center of Photography, TX,

Event: < Poetic Storytelling >

Dates: 20 May 2023 - 3 Jun 2023

Venue: Praxis Gallery, 2600 East 26th Street Minneapolis, MN

Exhibition at Praxis Gallery, MN, USA

Event: < Black & White >

Dates: 13 May 2023 - 8 Jun 2023

Venue: Decode Gallery, 314 S CONVENT TUCSON, AZ 85701

Juried Group Exhibition at Decode Gallery, AZ, USA


 

Biography

Xidong Luo is a self-taught fine art photographer based in Shenzhen, China. She specializes in mirror fantasies—a unique blend of self-portraiture and still life that captures life’s transient beauty, the inherent vulnerability of femininity, and the profound kinship between women and nature.  

Deeply rooted in Taoist philosophy ( 物我合一“Heaven and earth coexist with me; all things and I are one”), Luo’s work visualizes the interconnectedness of all existence.

Her signature mirrors draw inspiration from the Chinese idiom 镜花水月 ( “fllowers in a mirror, moon on water”) —a metaphor for life’s illusory and ephemeral nature. These reflective surfaces multiply dimensions, infusing her surreal compositions with emotional gravity while questioning reality’s very fabric.

Luo’s artistic practice crystallized during China’s pandemic lockdowns, though its seeds were sown through earlier metamorphoses. After a decade as a portrait photographer and an IBM professional, her 7-year Himalayan backpacking odyssey fine-tuned her sensitivity to nature’s whispers—a dialogue that erupted into her Self-Reflection series when COVID-19 confined her to a world of mirrors and decaying botanicals.

Years of dance practice manifest in every frame she creates. Her body communicates through trained precision: a fingertip’s tension echoes a poem’s caesura, a back’s curve holds the weight of unsaid words. This discipline allows her to distill elegance, rhythm, and raw femininity into a single gesture, making her self-portraits not mere images but choreographed meditations on existence.

What began as pandemic catharsis has evolved into a meditation on existence itself. The falling leaves and withered flowers in her works function as memento vivere rather than memento mori; even their brittleness pulses with quiet resilience. Now exhibiting internationally, Luo’s work bridges Eastern philosophy, classical Chinese aesthetics, and contemporary surrealism, proving that a mirror can indeed hold the entire universe.