出租屋
自2019年起，作者开始关注上海城市化进程中的拆建现象，将其视为中国经济发展中的新风景，并创作了“上海风景”系列，经过长期探索，作者以更具普遍性的个体作为研究对象，用平民视角观看社会问题，从之前的外部环境转换到室内自拍。到2023年，作者通过对上海各区域租赁市场的调研发现，自新冠疫情爆发以来，整体经济放缓，而中国的经济离不开房地产。正如“上海风景”所揭示的，房地产金融化，最终演变为泡沫经济。与此同时，随着中国经济结构性变化，劳动力市场的转型，大部分制造业转为廉价的低技能服务业，大批高校毕业生放弃工作，不婚、不育、不买房。加上政府对新兴行业的监管与限制，导致民营企业裁员、倒闭，外资撤离，工作岗位减少，竞争激烈，青年就业困难，部分人选择离开城市回乡“躺平”。在青年失业率持续上升的背景下，上海中外环地区大量社区出租房因租赁需求减少而出现空置现象。由此，作者通过房屋中介发布的出租房地址，私自进入部分未上锁的出租房自拍。通过行为肢体语言和情绪，与这些临时空间产生互动。并利用出租屋内遗留的生活痕迹，例如墙面上的文字、装饰、生活物品、房间面积，地理位置及租金价格，反映个体在社会经济发展中的角色、身份、阶层分化，以及生存现状！
Rental house
Since 2019, the author has been paying attention to the demolition and reconstruction phenomena in the process of urbanization in Shanghai, viewing it as a new scenery of China's economic development and creating the "Shanghai Scenery" series. After long-term exploration, the author has studied individuals with more universal characteristics as research objects, using the perspective of ordinary people to observe social issues, and has shifted from external environment to indoor self-portraits. By 2023, the author found through research on the rental market in various regions of Shanghai that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall economy has slowed down, and China's economy cannot do without real estate. As revealed by "Shanghai Scenery," real estate has been financialized, ultimately leading to a bubble economy. At the same time, with China's structural changes in the economy and the transformation of the labor market, most manufacturing industries have turned into cheap low-skilled services, and a large number of college graduates have given up work, opting for single life, childlessness, and not buying property. Add to this the government's regulation and restriction on emerging industries, which has led to layoffs and closures of private enterprises, the withdrawal of foreign capital, a reduction in job opportunities, fierce competition, and difficult youth employment, with some people choosing to leave the city and "lie flat." Under the background of a persistent rise in youth unemployment, a large number of community rental houses in the inner and outer ring areas of Shanghai have become vacant due to a reduction in rental demand. Therefore, the author has entered some unlocked rental houses for self-portraits through the addresses released by real estate agents. By interacting with these temporary spaces through body language and emotions, and using the traces of life left behind in the rental houses, such as wall writings, decorations, living items, room size, location, and rental prices, the author reflects the roles, identities, and class divisions of individuals in social and economic development, as well as their living conditions!
Photographer Leslie Shang Zhefeng was born in 1991 in rural Shaanxi Province, China. lives and works in Shanghai-Xi'an. Environmental, socio-political issues, and the meaning of the man today are the main topics depicts in his work. By observing the situation, ZheFeng reveals challenging moments in today's society in China through comparison with the generations passed. In an attempt to find out more about the modern family, Shang ZheFeng decides to research his own family archives, old images, and VHS footage.