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48 / People

career. He appreciates the teach-
ing method in Beijing that did not
only focus on drawing skills but
more essentially about human
qualities. “They teach you how to
cultivate yourself to draw a good
piece of artwork through learning
history, humanities, and cultures,”
Ma adds.
Back in the era when technolo-
gies were not as advanced as today,
Ma could only share his life in Bei-
jing by emailing photos to his fam-
ily. He enjoyed taking snapshots
when doing outdoor sketching.
This was when he realised photo-
taking was a more direct and faster
way to convey messages and his
thoughts compared to drawing.
Protesters walked forward despite heavy smog caused by tear gas. (Photo cour
tesy of Ma) After graduating from the
CAFA, Ma worked in New York
in the frontline is very intense as a photographer. He says work-
and dangerous. Unlike his I don’t contribute a lot to ing in New York is not as glamor-
commercial photo shooting, ous as how it is portrayed in TV
Ma can only press the shutter this social movement. From drama. The working environment
button without thinking. He my perspective, I only made in the US is more relaxing, and job
recalls when he was taking a nature is similar to Hong Kong but
photo of police officers shoot- use of my identity and ability is even more competitive. Besides,
ing rubber bullets, a protestor discrimination against Chinese is
who protected him with an to do something right, another issue Ma faces there.
umbrella casually asked him
about the model of his camera.
It is surreal to Ma.
“I don’t contribute a lot to this so-
cial movement. From my perspective,
I only made use of my identity and Police stoodoff at the road. (Photo courtesy of Ma)
ability to do something right,” Ma ex-
claims. He does not care about people
criticising him taking these photos for
money because he does not get paid
from anyone. And he thinks he does
not deserve respect from his support-
ers because he wants to dedicate it to
the frontline demonstrators.

From an Artist
to a Photographer
Ma has started drawing since high
school. He then studied painting and
illustration at The Central Academy
of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing. Ma
describes it as a life changing experi-
ence that has navigated him to his