10 | EDIBLE SF SPRING 2026 A Small Planet Between Us, 2020 What's the title of this image and what inspired you to create it? A Small Planet Between Us. I often collect translucent objects. This one felt like a small blue planet holding an ocean inside it. It made me think about my own scale within the environment I live in, and about the distance between what is visible and what remains unknowable. The image became a symbolic space, suspended between intimacy and infinity. You photograph everyday body compositions—resting elbows, a leg crease, relaxed hands—that we experience daily but never observe. You've talked about being drawn to unconscious body language. How does that interest shape the way you capture these ordinary moments? I’m naturally shy, so I tend to observe. This draws me to unconscious gestures and unguarded body language, where emotions appear before they become words. In my work, I try to create a space where these quiet signals can surface. They may appear as overlooked details or as symbolic forms, but they carry a sense of sincerity and exposure. By paying attention to these unconscious movements, I hope to let ordinary things become something slightly unfamiliar, charged with metaphor and a deeper emotional meaning. You've mentioned music and film are your biggest influences. Both unfold over time—your photographs have to carry all that meaning into one image. How do you compress all that metaphorical language into a single shot? I don’t really think about translating meaning in a technical way. Music and film mostly teach me how to sense atmosphere and rhythm. When I photograph, I try to hold onto a moment that already contains emotion, like a scene that could belong to a story. One image becomes a small vessel for time, gathering light, gesture, and mood together, and allowing viewers to imagine what came before and what might follow. There's a delicacy to your work that makes me aware of my own body (my skin, my limbs, how they're folded). Is that intentional? What do you want people to feel physically when they encounter your photographs? I want my images to carry layered emotions and a sense of synesthesia—both bold and gentle, intuitive yet full of metaphor. They are often moments I observe and then hold still, a way of recreating what I’ve seen while allowing imagination to enter. When viewers encounter the work, I’d like them to feel it physically, as a quiet awareness of their own body. The photograph is not an answer, but a mirror, open to personal reflection and meaning. COVER ARTIST: LI HUI Writer—Melody Saradpon A conversation with photographer Li Hui and the art of capturing emotional bodies Li Hui is a photography artist working with light, bodies, and fragments of daily life. Her images move between reality and imagination, creating quiet narratives filled with emotion, memory, and subtle tension. huiuh.com | @huiuh_
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