Liu Zheng, born in 1969 in Wuqiang County, Hebei Province, is a leading Chinese photographer currently based in Beijing. He studied optical engineering at the Beijing Institute of Technology and graduated in 1991. From 1991 to 1997, he worked as a photojournalist for Workers’ Daily. In 1996, he co-founded New Photo Magazine, a platform that became pivotal for emerging experimental photographers in China. He left journalism in 1997 to pursue an independent artistic path.
Liu Zheng’s photographic practice centers on the complexities of identity, memory, and transformation within contemporary Chinese society. Drawing from a wide range of subjects—from the everyday and marginalized to the symbolic and theatrical—his works blur the boundary between documentation and construction. He often stages or frames his subjects in ways that highlight contradictions between the sacred and the profane, tradition and modernity, the real and the imagined. Through this method, Liu reveals the psychological and cultural tensions that shape modern Chinese life, using photography not merely as a recording device but as a tool for myth-making and existential reflection. 

Liu Zheng has exhibited with Redbase on multiple occasions, including the group exhibition Mind of History and Culture at Redbase Foundation Indonesia (2015). More recently, his project Qu Yang: The Stories of Immortals was presented at Redbase Art Sydney (2024).

His artistic achievements have earned him international recognition. In 2002, he was awarded the L’Oréal Grand Jury Prize at the Pingyao International Photography Festival and received a Gold Medal at the Asian Photography Festival in Japan. In 2003, he was invited to exhibit at the 50th Venice Biennale. His works are held in major institutions including the International Center of Photography in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.