Hai Bo (Chinese, b.1962) is a Beijing-based photographer specializing in highly conceptual photographs that document the changing social, economic, and environmental climate of contemporary Chinese society. Born in the Jilin Province of China, he studied at the Fine Art Institution of Jilin in 1984, before continuing his photography studies at the Central Institute of Fine Arts in Beijing. Hai often re-stages photographs taken decades earlier, creating a juxtaposition of past and present in diptych compositions that emphasize China's rapid growth and change. His photographs also record the passage of time in a variety of ways, portraying the cyclical passing of generations, seasons, and decades. Recently Hai has started to document the communities that have formed alongside the margins of urban centers, reflecting the changing demographics of China in the wake of the country's Industrial Revolution. In addition to human subjects, Hai has also worked within the landscape genre, capturing the vastness and isolation of China's horizons in works from The Northern series. In 2004, Hai was the recipient of the 55th International Prize at the Michetti Foundation in Italy.
