Bizarre or trending subjects, catch a break with our curiosity of the week. Based in Iceland, Yiwei Li turns the territory’s sublime landscapes into surreal and poetic sceneries.
Deserted and fantastic landscapes fill the pictures of Yiwei Li – also known as Stocktoon on Instagram. Breathtaking panoramas inspired by Iceland, which has been her country of residence for the last seven years. During her studies in design, the artist started dabbling in photography, capturing her surroundings with a Smartphone. “The medium swallowed the design part of my life and eventually became my full-time job”, she says.
Turning everyday mundanity into precious settings, thus is Yiwei Li’s aim. Her deliciously minimalist creations reveal the unexpected splendors of our world. Coloured with pastel tones, her images blur into a sweet mist, from where appear fantastic spaces – inspired by the Impressionists and René Magritte.
Metamorphosing reality
“Although most of my photos take roots in daily life, I like to make them look more surreal or artsy. I view them as jigsaw puzzles, full of surprises and inspirations”,
she tells us. Among her productions, one of them reminds her of a nice memory: a white building whose strange outlines are lit by a pink sun. Only two shadows inhabit this surreal space: a man and a raven.
“I was driving with my boyfriend and passed by this building, I loved it so much I had to stop and take some pictures of it. As I was asking my partner to walk towards the building, a raven came and settles at the top of the angle. It was so exciting that I kept shooting”, she remembers. Then started postproduction, aiming at metamorphosing reality. “I removed some unnecessary things in the background. This is how I usually work: nature provided me the canvas, and I created the rest of the scene”, she adds. Poetic and enchanting, Yiwei Li’s sceneries are a welcome evasion from our daily lives.
© Yiwei Li
