When Zhe Chen turned to self-harm to deal with her internal struggles, she decided to document her experiences through photography. The result is “Bees,” a redemptive collection of portraits from a young photographer making her mark in the world.

Often harrowing and frequently shocking, the photographs in “Bees” show people flawed both physically and internally. There are wrists bound with white bandages, legs dotted with cigarette burns, backs scored with wounds. Many of the images show hands as the agents of self-harm as well as the recipients—wielding cigarettes, cupping handfuls of pills. One of the most moving is Bees 022-03, a young swimming champion preparing for a race. It is only when you look closer that you notice a track of keloid self-harm scars on her lower arm. Success comes at a price, Chen seems to be saying.

Self-harm as is shown in a close-up of a person’s back with the anarchy symbol scored into the skin; another portrait focuses on a man’s tattooed face, suspension hooks just visible on his back.

Some of the photographs in “Bees” have echoes of Tracey Emin’s controversial installations, especially in Chen’s depictions of depression’s aftermath: stained bedding, discarded tissues, used sanitary products and ashtrays filled with cigarette ends. Despite the subject of self-harm having entered popular culture in works like Girl Interrupted, Secretary and Prozac Nation, it is still deeply misunderstood and extremely shocking. It is easy to see similarities between Chen’s work and that of Japanese photographer Kosuke Okahara, who portrays troubled girls in his home country.

While it’s easy to glamorize self-mutilation and fetishize it as the province of young, disturbed females, Chen veers away from this cliché, despite her age and her gender. It is brave of her to mount a collection like this, just as it is brave of her subjects to have agreed to be photographed. Mental illness is still seen as something frightening and alien in Chinese culture, and exhibitions like this will hopefully encourage a change in attitudes.

Although Chen’s photographs make for uncomfortable viewing, the message is hopeful—pain can be turned into something more.

DETAILS

What: “Bees”

Where: Beaugeste Gallery

When: Showing now through Nov. 2