Julien Besson’s series of Tompkins Square delves into the joys and turmoils of youth in a city. But not just any city, the city of New York. These kids are at the centre of it all, and Besson manages to hang out and capture the moment in beautiful black and white.

IP: How did you find out about Tompkins Square?

JB: I discovered this park in 2016 while visiting the East Village. Tompkins Square Park is a true neighbourhood park, once known as the epicentre of drug dealers, drug addicts and homeless people in New York until the late 1980s.Today it is an ever popular park where you can meet different social classes, artists and outsiders. Children throng in the playground and on the basketball court.

IP: What were you like as a teenager? Do you feel any affinity with the young kids hanging out at the square today?

JB: My photos are a part of me, but I do not want to relate to my past. I feel close to the sen...

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Ronghui Chen is a 30 years old Chinese National. born in Lishui, a small village in Zhejiang province. Currently a MFA program student in Yale School of Art, his work focuses on China’s urbanization, in long term projects, to explore the relationship between China’s urbanization and individual’s experiences. His trilogy “Petrochemical China, Modern Shanghai & Runaway world and Freezing Land” document urbanization in China, the petrochemical industry and theme parks in the context of Chinese consumerism as well as the shrinking cities in northeastern China and their lonely young people

ML: Where did you shoot your story? Is that your birth place, the place you live or did you travel there purposely?

RH: I grew up in southern China with warm weather, therefore I long for the freezing environment in the north. I’m obsessed with a novel called Tales of Hulan River, which is about the declining northeastern region...

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We talked to Russian artist, Nikita Erphène, who is based in France for the last 20 years about his series exploring gender stereotypes, and the way in which gender is expressed for gender non-conforming individuals.

IP: Where are you from? Where do you live now?

NE: I was born in Russia but I have lived in France for more than 20 years now. I started working in the Louvre Museum in 2000 before becoming a fashion make-up artist and artistic director. After several years of travelling, I returned to work at the museum in 2014.

IP: Did you study photography? How did you become interested in taking photos?

NE: I have never studied photography even though I have always been interested by it. In 2000, I started working at the Louvre Museum and fell in love with the museum's Greek sculptures. These statues were my first models.

IP: Why are you interested in the topic of gender, and stereotypes of wo...

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