Hyakki Yagyo

Artist Statement

As a child growing up in China, I was deeply influenced by ghostly tales like the Japanese “Hyakki Yagyo” (百鬼夜行), or “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons,” where supernatural entities parade through the night, blending fear and reverence. While experiencing Día de los Muertos in Oaxaca, Mexico, I saw a striking contrast—death, rather than feared, was celebrated with vibrant colors, music, and joy. These two traditions, while different, share a deep engagement with the unknown, creating a bridge between the world of the living and the dead.

Hyakki Yagyo captures this cross-cultural dialogue, using flash photography to explore how death is interpreted and celebrated in the Mexican culture. Through deep shadows, vivid colors, and blurred motion, I emphasize the tension between fear and reverence, life and death. The faces of the participants—musicians, dancers, and families—express a range of emotions, from quiet reflection to ecstatic celebration. These visual contrasts reflect the complexity of our relationship with mortality.

Media

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 1 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 2 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 3 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 4 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 5 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 6 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 7 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 8 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 9 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 10 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 11 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 12 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 13 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 14 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Hyakki Yagyo — Photography series — night ritual photograph 15 — A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

Overview

What this work is

A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca. Hyakki Yagyo begins with a childhood inheritance of ghost stories in China and encounters Día de los Muertos in Oaxaca as a radically different visual logic: not death as suppression, but as public color, rhythm, and shared celebration.

What it examines

Using flash, darkness, motion blur, and saturated chroma, MT stages a visual conversation between fear and reverence. The series foreshadows MT's later interest in systems that mediate between visible and invisible worlds, whether through ritual, memory, or computational inference.

Medium and production

Photography series. A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca. Components include sequenced image groups.

Reference

Year

2023

Medium

Photography series

Focus

Ritual, mortality, cross-cultural symbolism

Questions readers ask

What kind of work is this?

Hyakki Yagyo is a photography series by Mingde “MT” Zeng. A nocturnal series connecting East Asian ghost imaginaries with the celebratory encounter with death in Oaxaca.

What question does it address?

Using flash, darkness, motion blur, and saturated chroma, MT stages a visual conversation between fear and reverence. The series foreshadows MT's later interest in systems that mediate between visible and invisible worlds, whether through ritual, memory, or computational inference.

How is AI involved, if at all?

This work is grounded in photography and public observation rather than direct AI generation, but it informs MT's broader research into images, systems, and authorship.

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