Limited Edition of 10 copies is accompanied by a 8”x10” giclee print.

Justin Ming Yong's first book of photography captures Qingming (Pure Brightness) festival in China.

In the mountains of Guangxi province, a ritual is practiced one day every year dating back to AD 732.  Through a smoke-filled haze, pink candles and red joss paper are melted and strewn around ancient burial grounds. Offerings such as apples, roast chickens and ghost money are left by gravesides. Vaguely seen figures disappear into the mist and among the trees. 

In capturing this strange and beautiful custom, Yong finds himself at the centre of something he is connected to historically and is disconnected from his own personal experience. There is an emotional immediacy to Yong's photographs. They reveal a world both of and profoundly alien to him.

Pure Brightness is a uniquely topical book about our own desires to feel connected to roots that we are utterly disconnected from. 

22,5 cm x 26 cm.

52 pages. 27 colour plates.

Offset printed

Paper-wrapped hardcover with debossed photos on front and back covers

First Edition of 250 copies

Printed December 2017

ISBN 978-1-7751299-0-5