GALESBURG — Sandburg’s first art show of the 2025-26 academic year features frames by award-winning veteran photographer Huang Qingjun.
Qingjun’s “Family Stuff” is in the art gallery in building D on the Galesburg campus through Oct. 11, and an opening reception for the show will take place from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sept. 5. The show and reception are free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are weekdays from 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
A native of China who now lives in Peoria, Qingjun has made “Family Stuff” a long-term project spanning more than 20 years and including 150 photographs. In it, he gathers a family’s belongings from different spaces in their home and arranges them in one place to take a photograph with the family members. Many of the photos are taken outdoors with the home as the background.
“Ninety percent of my previous works were shot in China during a time of rapid economic development, modernization and globalization,” Qingjun said. “I used this method of staged photographs to record history. In the photos, a household’s real interior space is briefly exposed in an external space; also can be seen are environment changes, urban expansion, technological advancements and shifts in people's lifestyles. Through static documentation of the above, I create a dynamic social panorama.”
In 2022, Qingjung began photographing American families as part of his “Family Stuff” project.
“I spend a significant amount of time preparing for each photo, getting to know the story of the subjects, visiting their rooms, contemplating the concept of the shoot, and carefully selecting the items for display,” Qingjun said. “The concepts of these works cover the lifestyle of native-born Americans, immigrants' nostalgia for their homeland, as well as themes of love, work, identity, gender and the passage of time.”
Qingjun has had solo exhibitions featured in Beijing; Amsterdam; Dresden, Germany; and Nuremberg, Germany. He’s also been part of group exhibitions in Beijing; Paris; New York; Geneva; Helsinki; Bordeaux, France; and Athens, Greece.
Qingjun’s work has been featured by the New York Times and the BBC. Visit Qingjun’s website, huangqingjun.com, to learn more about him.
For more information about “Family Stuff,” contact gallery director and art program coordinator Lisa Walker at 309.341.5303 or ldwalker@sandburg.edu.
Huang Qingjun’s project, “Family Stuff,” spans more than 20 years and includes 150 photographs. In it, he gathers a family’s belongings from different spaces in their home and arranges them in one place to take a photograph with the family members. (Courtesy of Huang Qingjun)