Meet Xiaozhu Shen | Fashion Photographer&Creative Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Xiaozhu Shen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Xiaozhu, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
I founded this creative production studio called MAD studio. The original intention of doing this studio was to bring more fun to this industry. We always believe that fun is essential which not only leads to fresh ideas, and good stories but also deep impressions. Having fun and the call to bring more fun to people are the reasons why we have been in this industry for years.
Of course, in the process of doing so, our identity as Chinese also brings a different meaning. We hope to break through the stereotypes of Chinese people and show that we Chinese people can actually be interesting, fashionable, and cool badass who suck at math.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think the main thing is my quest for deep concepts behind my work. This is something I have always insisted on: I think good work, no matter how big or small, must be about throwing questions at the world. And this questioning cannot be separated from profound thinking. Every one of my works has a question that has been thrown out after deep sociological, psychological, or philosophical thinking and reading. For me, beauty is only a form of art, and what really matters is to make a statement. It can be hard sometimes. I quit my job, moved to another country, and became an artist, using photos and films to present my art. It took me a long time to get used to this insecurity of being a foreigner, a freelance with an unstable life. I had panic attacks on a daily basis because of that but I stuck to it cause my craving to be a creator was even stronger. I don’t believe in souls, instead, I’m convinced this is a one-time-only life. I wanna maximum my time to achieve my dream even though it can be hard sometimes.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them to the Lower East Side first, and go to all those special bars, and then when to Bushwick for clubs. Because to me, the never sleeping night is the charm of New York City

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shout out to my working partner Yu Jiang. I could never done this on my own. I always make jokes about that in Mad Studio he is the “Mad” and I’m the “Studio”. He is in charge of having a character. He is professional at work so that I can rely on him and he always brings more fun to work and also in our lives.

Website: https://www.yolis.space/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/definitely_not_yoli/