'89 Tiananmen

Arles International Photography Festival 2024 "Historical Book Award" Winner

Born in Hong Kong in 1957, Frank Huang went to Beijing in April 1989 as a professional news photographer to cover a sports event. There, he witnessed the students who ignited the largest pro-democracy movement in China's history. He briefly returned to Hong Kong but immediately went back to Beijing upon hearing that the students had begun a hunger strike. He remained there, continuously capturing the students' images with his camera until the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4th.

This book contains photographs taken between April and June 4, 1989, as well as six works photographed from winter 1998 to spring 1999.

"Through the white light of a light box, I re-examined a series of black-and-white negative archives taken during the student pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in 1989, searching for the traces of youth left on Chang'an Avenue. Confronted with these unclaimed remnants of youth, I can't help but imagine who they are today. Ultimately, it was the most beautiful human light that ever appeared on the land of China." ― Frank Huang (Postscript to this book)