Series description
Where Roads Begin to Split examines the profound tensions of modernisation and migration in China, focusing on the fractures that are emerging between rural roots and urban ambitions. In 2024, Fan travelled over 3,000 kilometres across several provinces in China, photographing the landscapes and lives shaped by this transformation. Considering the personal perspectives of the photographers’ parents, the series captures the pivotal moments of departure and longing – when the familiar is left behind and the uncertain first steps into urban life are taken.
Biography
Born in 2002, Fan Xingyu majored in photography at the Nanjing Arts Institute, and his works have been exhibited at the Pingyao International Photography Festival, the China International Design Museum, the Poly Theater in Suzhou, and the Jiangsu Art Museum. Being selected for the Sony World Photography Contest is an important milestone in my artistic path. I look forward to expressing my generation's unique understanding of the world in the field of photography in the future.
Where Roads Begin to Split
A drone takes aerial photographs of the spring festival in a silent village.
© Xingyu Fan, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, In the Beginning, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Where Roads Begin to Split
Village haystacks and forgotten old clothes.
© Xingyu Fan, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, In the Beginning, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Where Roads Begin to Split
Straw is often burned after the crop has been taken away.
© Xingyu Fan, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, In the Beginning, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Where Roads Begin to Split
A path leading out of the village, a leaning telephone pole and two people about to disappear.
© Xingyu Fan, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, In the Beginning, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Where Roads Begin to Split
Old people often live alone, separated from their children.
© Xingyu Fan, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, In the Beginning, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Where Roads Begin to Split
A plane – an important tool in the process of urbanisation – sits in front of high-density high-rise residential buildings.
© Xingyu Fan, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, In the Beginning, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Where Roads Begin to Split
The landscape of the city is changing floor by floor.
© Xingyu Fan, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, In the Beginning, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Where Roads Begin to Split
A middle-aged man looks back at his home in the city.
© Xingyu Fan, China Mainland, Shortlist, Student Competition, In the Beginning, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards