Lu Guang - Photographs.

Lu Guang (b. 1961, Yongkang, Zhejiang Province) is a Chinese documentary photographer who has lived in New York as a U.S. permanent resident. He began photographing in 1980 while employed in a silk factory and later studied at the Academy of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Since the 1990s, he has worked as an independent photographer, producing long-form documentary projects that focus on public health, labour, and environmental consequences of China’s economic development.

His best-known series include work on HIV/AIDS in Henan Province villages, the spread of drug use in rural areas, the conditions of coal miners, and extensive documentation of industrial pollution across China. These projects earned him significant international recognition, including three World Press Photo awards (2004, 2011, 2015), the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography (2009), the Henri Nannen Prize (2008), and the Prince Claus Award (2013). His photographs have been widely exhibited in Europe, North America, and Asia, often presented in the context of human rights and environmental awareness.

On 3 November 2018, while visiting Xinjiang to attend a photography workshop, Lu Guang was detained by Chinese security authorities. His family and press freedom organisations reported that he was held without trial or public explanation, and for months no official information was provided. Though later reports indicated he was allowed to return home under restrictions, no formal details about his legal status or freedom of movement have been made public. His case remains one of the most prominent examples of a documentary photographer facing state detention in contemporary China.

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