Layzhoz Yeap
寻翼竹•叶
Professional Photographer

Dating back to year 2014 when the tsunami disaster struck many parts of the world, was when Layzhoz Yeap realised her passion for art and started with oil pastel and arcylic before transitioning to photography. It was a different start to her journey unlike many other photographers who fell right in love with capturing images with a camera.

When Layzhoz Yeap was young, she was a camera shy person and never liked to say ‘cheese” in front of her so-called dumb box (i.e. camera). Hence, there were only very few family photos left behind when her father passed on. Only then she realized how precious it was to have memories kept as photographs and how valuable archives are. Most museums in the world only collect fine art and documentary photographs as those are the mediums that record the history and social thoughts of society in a particular time period.

Immersing into the field of photography, she found her calling. She realised photography could immortalise moments that would otherwise have been lost to the ebb and flow of time. “I also discovered that photography could be the perfect medium to express my creativity and emotions,” she said. Her next project will be some human sustainability awareness projects to bring across important messages via photography art.

Layzhoz Yeap is a professional self-taught photographer who graduated from the University of Guelph, Canada. She is a member of Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and the LUCIE Foundation. She has won numerous world-renowned prestigious awards since 2008 which included the International Photography Awards IPA (USA); PX3 (France); Black and White Spider Awards; B&W Single Image Contest Awards (USA); “Point of View” (USA). She was also selected as one of the few to qualify for the 2010 Silvershotz Folio by the international Journal of Fine Art Photography (Australia). This was followed by one of her works, titled “Naive”, being selected as a winning entry in the B&W Single Image Contest in 2009 and it was used on the cover of B&W, a fine art black and white photography magazine.

Today, the chief photographer for EZ Malaysia and EZ Australia is determined to continue expanding her photographic skills, combining her photojournalism assignments for various publications with her creative expressions. On one hand, she was capturing honest expressions of personalities worldwide from ambassadors to celebrities. On the other, her photography was imbued with emotions, play of light in almost surreal compositions that exuded artistic expressions. “Photography, to me, is a valuable and powerful visual communicator that explain better than words.” she said.

The latest two major exhibitions that Layzhoz Yeap participated in 2014 and 2015 respectively were Venice Biennale and Expo Milano. In 2014, her photographic works were exhibited at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition Venice Biennale 2014 in Venice which was held in conjunction with “Who Should Help?” bronze sculpture art exhibition. In 2015, her award-winning works titled “Street Watch”, “Soaring Colors” and “The Breathing Fish” were selected to be a part of the display at the Malaysia Pavillion in the 2015 Expo Milano with the theme “Passion for Life, Energising the World”.

Amidst fulfilling her daily duties for the family, Layzhoz continues to pursue her passion armed with her camera and lenses. It is now almost 10 years since she took up photography and she is not about to stop. It is not about the art anymore but a personal challenge for her to continuously produce bold and breathtaking fine art and documentary photography. “I believe photographic expression is not just about what sells but it is also about putting an emphasis on the beauty of life and what it has to offer,” she said. Who knows, perhaps one day, Layzhoz may even take the lead in inspiring a world of light, love and acceptance through her unique photographic compositions.

“Photography, to me, is a valuable and powerful visual communicator that explain better than words.”

“对我而言，摄影可以是强大的视觉传达媒介，比起文字能够更好的阐述定义。”

2014年海啸灾难从世界各角落卷走许多生命的时刻，也是寻翼竹•叶(Layzhoz Yeap)非比寻常艺术旅程的开端。哀伤，启发了她把心情书写到画板、纸张上。那时用的艺术颜料是油性粉彩、亚克力。数年后，才选用另类‘艺术画笔’ – 即摄影相机。

寻翼竹•叶年幼时是腼腆害羞的女孩，最厌烦在她所谓的“哑盒子”(即相机)前说“cheese”后绽开笑容。说到要拍照，总是闹到大小泪珠流个不停。然而…在她父亲离逝后，才惊觉遗留下来珍贵的家庭照片并不多，就因为自己不爱拍照，总是不合群。那时她才意识到能保存记忆的照片档案是多么的有价值。

今时今日，全球大多数博物馆典藏的珍贵摄影作品，一般是纯艺术性 fine art 或纪录性 documentary，因为它们是特定时期的社会历史和思维变动的媒介实录。

纯艺术性 fine art 和纪录性 documentary 的摄像，就是寻翼竹•叶的摄影强项。在摄影领域除了收集人生途中珍贵影像的同时，寻翼竹•叶没停止地也在探索自己的使命。摄影能让那些无声息流逝的光影瞬间变得不朽。“能把自己看到的、感受到的，运用摄影媒介让大家都看到，那是一种磨人，却又有趣的挑战。除了创造，摄影绝对是能显示情感的绝佳媒介。”她的下一个艺术项目是透过艺术呼吁人们除了力争保护动物、保护产业、保护病老孤儿家人等等的同时，也别忘了要为普遍人类(即同类)的生存持续作努力，好好地去认知真正正在威胁人类生存的源头，并希望能从中付諸该有的决策。

寻翼竹。叶毕业于加拿大的高富大学。她是自学摄影而成为专业摄影师的，目前也是PPA美国职业摄影师协会和LUCIE摄影基金会的成员。自2008年以来，她赢得无数世界知名的摄影奖项，其中包括IPA国际摄影大奖(美国)、PX3(法国)、黑白摄影 SPIDER AWARDS，B&W单幅图像摄影竞赛奖(美国)等等。她也是少数入围2010年“SilvershotzFolio”国际摄影艺术期刊(澳大利亚)的摄影师之一。另外，她的作品“Naive天真”在2009年B&W单幅图像摄影竞赛中获奖，同时也被编辑相中成了为 B&W 黑白摄影杂志的其一封面。

目前寻翼竹•叶是高端杂志《御智.马来西亚》和《御智.澳大利亚》的首席摄影师，也是一东博物馆(摄影部)总监。从世界各地的代表性大使到名人摄像，她讲究的是捕捉那一刹真实的表述。她的摄影作品中陈述的是情感以外的另一种艺术情绪。人像除了图像, 还需反映出该人物的个性。“对我而言，摄影可以是强大的视觉传达媒介，比起文字能够更好的阐述定义。”

“我相信，摄影的卖点该是强调生活的美丽和给予的馈赠。”

寻翼竹•叶在2014与2015年间，受邀参与威尼斯双年展和米兰世界博览会这两项重要的世界展览会。2014年，她的摄影作品在威尼斯双年展第14届国际建筑展，联同“该由谁来帮忙 ?”青铜雕塑艺术在展会中展出。至于她的获奖作品“Street Watch观察街头”、“Soaring Colors翱翔的色彩”和“Breathing Fish呼吸的鱼”被选为2015年米兰世博会马来西亚展馆的一部分，主题为“激情生活，激励世界”。

在履行日常家庭职责的同时，她间续地用相机追求着镜头的定格激情。摄影工作的日子至今已近10年，对寻翼竹•叶而言，摄影是艺术，也是对个人极限的挑战。她的作品将会是更多不休止、大胆和与令人叹为观止的艺术和纪录摄影。“我相信，摄影的卖点该是强调生活的美丽和所给予的馈赠。”或许某一天，她独特的摄影创作将会激发世界另一角更多的共鸣。