Vivien Liu: Being There: Being There

Architects are trained to see a space before it is realized, and photography helps them with this. Vivien Liu is an architect who has worked for nearly a decade in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, China, and Hong Kong. She has developed a strong sensibility portraying space as seen through the first person, which defines her style. Her first book, Being There, explores the dialogue and tension between people and spaces through portraiture, landscapes, and street photography.

Format: Hardback
Length: 160 pages
Publication date: 04 January 2021
Publisher: Trope Publishing Co.

Architects are trained to see a space before it is realized, and I think photography helps me with that. But I would also say it is the other way around. My training helps me with the way I photograph. I look at space with a more symmetrical eye, and you see a lot of symmetry in my photos.

Vivien Liu studied architecture at the University of Waterloo and then attended Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, where she was awarded the prestigious Clifford Wong Prize in Housing Design. As an architect, she has worked for nearly a decade in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, China, and Hong Kong, where she now resides and first took up photography. As a photographer, she quickly developed a strong sensibility portraying space as seen through the first person, which now defines her style. What began as a weekend pastime has transformed Vivien into one of the most prolific urban photographers in Hong Kong, attracting over 240,000 followers on Instagram. Her first book, "Being There," explores the dialogue and tension between people and spaces through portraiture, landscapes, and street photography, from the urban density of Hong Kong and Tokyo to epic natural landscapes like Zhangjajie, China. With an architect's artful eye, Ms. Liu captures this juxtaposition in the most beautiful way, sharply highlighting her eye for patterns and symmetry across settings.

Weight: 826g
Dimension: 193 x 279 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781732693609