A Manchester student is hoping to reveal the real lives of people in Beijing through a photography project that aims to get under the skin of the city.

The Behind Beijing project is inspired by the hit Facebook series, Humans of New York, which combines a simple street-style portrait photograph with a short paragraph from each subject about their life.

 
David Adesanya, who is currently studying Architecture at Manchester Metropolitan University, was offered the opportunity to travel to Beijing for three weeks as part of the University’s Study China Programme, and decided that in order to get the most out of his time there he would work on the project.

David, who is originally from London and has had support from professional Manchester-based photographer Emmanuel Hammond, will be based with native students from Beijing Normal University.

He said: “The project is about shedding light on the East – there is not much clarity about people and what’s going on there.

“Being able to break into China is very difficult. I’m not only interested in the city, I’m more interested in the people.”

David leaves for Beijing on March 19, and will return on April 9.

Unlike Humans of New York, David will not be able to post his images to social media while he is in China, due to the country’s strict ban on Facebook and Twitter. However, the full project will be published on his website, behindbeijing.org on his return, and he has already received interest from media outlets and galleries interested in showing the photographs and stories.

David said: “Photography-wise it’s very simple – it’s clear and honest. You ask a question and detail exactly what they say. There’s no Photoshop or editing.

“In this age we seem to have become disconnected due to an increase in social media, so being able to connect through this project is amazing – it shows a form of hope. Creating connections is what drew me to it.”

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