This feature is part of CULTURED’s 2026 Young Photographers list. This year’s list spotlights 14 artists aged 30 or younger from around the globe who are united by a relentless curiosity and an understanding that the photographer’s most important job is identifying what deserves to be seen.
AGE: 28
BASED IN: Madrid, Spain
YunPing Li’s elaborately staged photographs—which include scenes like the artist standing nude in a room full of friends, or among layered self-portraits hung from the walls and ceiling—are as much a performance as they are static images, exploring his changing corporeality and its ties to space and belonging.
What’s the ideal situation for you to make work?
I need to feel strong, both physically and mentally, to be stimulated, to feel free. I guess you only achieve that by being well-established in life, having a good support system, and being in a healthy environment.
What questions does your work ask?
How do I feel? How do I occupy space? How do I relate to my environment?
What fears does your work address?
Loneliness, abandonment, isolation, queerness, loss, not fitting in.
What three ingredients do you always look for in an image?
Perfect technical execution, simplicity, and honesty.
What’s the craziest situation you’ve shot in?
It was a test for one of my ongoing series revolving around my biological mom, in which I aim to depict my birth in a water tank, based on Ren Hang’s photography. I used a human-sized display cabinet and had to fill it with water, using a bucket and a dolly to move it from the kitchen to the set. Then I had to empty it again and shot with a large-format camera, all by myself.
What has been your most challenging subject to photograph so far?
Self-portraiture gets more challenging every time I do it. The technical difficulties, the awkwardness, and the effort are what nobody sees—and where the magic happens.
What do you want to do more of in the coming years?
I aim to find my own formula as an image-maker working with both performance and photography, to be bolder and to reveal my soul more and more, to overcome myself as an artist, and to leave all my fears behind.
Meet more of CULTURED’s 2026 Young Photographers:
Rahim Rabia’s Advice to Other Photographers? Doubt Yourself More.
Many Photographers Have Been Nominated for a Pulitzer. This One Was Nominated for a Grammy.
For Queer Photographer Ben Jastremski, ‘Every Image I Make Is the Permission I Was Never Given’
War Still Rages in Ukraine. Photographer Conall Kearney Is There to Document It.
Photographer Elijah Chukwuka Mogoli Captures a Disappearing Brooklyn
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