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Portraits from 21st century China: Photographer's magical album of ordinary people in fancy dress and posed in extraordinary settings

By Sara Malm
PUBLISHED: 19:47 GMT, 31 March 2013 | UPDATED: 06:31 GMT, 1 April 2013

A Chinese artist spent nearly a year travelling around the country in a mobile studio in order to photograph thousands of ordinary people, and post them on a social network.
Visiting 35 cities in 25 provinces, photographer Maleonn took 1,600 portraits of people dressed in outrageous fancy dress, surrounded by strange props of all shapes and sizes, before posting the snaps on the Chinese version of Twitter.
Shanghai-based Maleonn spent seven months preparing for the ten-month project, including painting the sets and backgrounds, preparing costumes, producing the props, purchasing a truck and arranging location.

Traveling circus: This bizarre photograph taken in Maleonn's mobile studio features people in horse heads, a suicidal clown and a giant bunny prop

Moving art: Shanghai-based artist Maleonn spent much of last year traveling around 25 Chinese provinces, photographing thousands of people in a mobile photo studio

High demands: After the unexpected response, Maleonn began imposing rules for his mobile studio visits, such as a minimum of eight people per city would have to be willing to model for him as provide him and his team with lodgings and food
The images were posted on his Weibo account - China's own Twitter - and he was overwhelmed by the response.
The project became so popular that he had to establish a set of guidelines, such as a minimum of eight people per city, who would provide him and his team with food, somewhere to stay and space to work.
The idea of the mobile studio came after the artist lost his Shanghai studio, growing weary with the arts scene in the city.

‘I became tired of contemporary art, the system, dealing with critics and curators behind closed doors. I wanted to do something with ordinary people,’ Maleonn says.
Having completed his travels around China, Maleonn spoke of the possibility of taking the mobile studio project to Britain, adding: ‘I have friends in Swansea.’

Big project: Maleonn spent seven months preparing for the journey around China, gathering props and costumes for his models, although some brought their own ideas to the table

Flying high: Two women pose in pilot costumes and superhero capes while balancing on a toy plane in the mobile studio

New experiences: Maleonns ten month journey came after grew tired of the world of contemporary art and wanted to involve ordinary people in his projects

Online gallery: All the images taken during the mobile studio project were posted on Weibo - the Chinese version of Twitter

Northern fields: A couple dressed in traditional Mongolian clothes as Maleonn kits out his mobile studio to resemble a home on the tundra

Modern fighter: A man dresses up as a Samurai warrior complete with a sword and fearsome pose, but appears to have forgotten to change out of his torn jeans

Understated madness: While some of Maleonn's models went all out with the fancy dress, others chose a more sombre appearance and added a goat

Master of the arts: Maleonn's models were kitted out with everything from superhero costumes to traditional warrior outfits and props which appear to have fallen out of a Lewis Carroll novel

Sleep deprivation linked to junk food cravings

By Yasmin Anwar, Media Relations | August 6, 2013

BERKELEY —

A sleepless night makes us more likely to reach for dough nuts or pizza than for whole grains and leafy green vegetables, suggests a new study from UC Berkeley that examines the brain regions that control food choices. The findings shed new light on the link between poor sleep and obesity.

Study finds that sleep deprivation can make us crave junk food more than healthy food. (iStockphoto)

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), UC Berkeley researchers scanned the brains of 23 healthy young adults, first after a normal night’s sleep and next, after a sleepless night. They found impaired activity in the sleep-deprived brain’s frontal lobe, which governs complex decision-making, but increased activity in deeper brain centers that respond to rewards. Moreover, the participants favored unhealthy snack and junk foods when they were sleep deprived.

“What we have discovered is that high-level brain regions required for complex judgments and decisions become blunted by a lack of sleep, while more primal brain structures that control motivation and desire are amplified,” said Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience and senior author of the study published today (Tuesday, Aug. 6) in the journal Nature Communications.

Moreover, he added, “high-calorie foods also became significantly more desirable when participants were sleep-deprived. This combination of altered brain activity and decision-making may help explain why people who sleep less also tend to be overweight or obese.”

Previous studies have linked poor sleep to greater appetites, particularly for sweet and salty foods, but the latest findings provide a specific brain mechanism explaining why food choices change for the worse following a sleepless night, Walker said.

“These results shed light on how the brain becomes impaired by sleep deprivation, leading to the selection of more unhealthy foods and, ultimately, higher rates of obesity,” said Stephanie Greer, a doctoral student in Walker’s Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory and lead author of the paper. Another co-author of the study is Andrea Goldstein, also a doctoral student in Walker’s lab.

In this newest study, researchers measured brain activity as participants viewed a series of 80 food images that ranged from high-to low-calorie and healthy and unhealthy, and rated their desire for each of the items. As an incentive, they were given the food they most craved after the MRI scan.

Food choices presented in the experiment ranged from fruits and vegetables, such as strawberries, apples and carrots, to high-calorie burgers, pizza and doughnuts. The latter are examples of the more popular choices following a sleepless night.

On a positive note, Walker said, the findings indicate that “getting enough sleep is one factor that can help promote weight control by priming the brain mechanisms governing appropriate food choices.