Time, Machine

by photographer Zhixuan Guo

Based in New York, photographer and visual artist Vic Guo (Zhixuan Guo) crafts images that live between emotion and control, memory and illusion. With a striking command of staged photography and digital manipulation, Vic’s recent series Time, Machine explores the cinematic interplay of time as both a mechanical structure and a deeply personal experience. In this interview, we dive into Vic’s artistic process, conceptual inspirations, and the emotional undercurrents that drive their evocative visual narratives.

What first drew you to photography as a medium for exploring emotion and memory?

I’ve always seen photography as a space where emotion can quietly exist without explanation. When I first started taking pictures, it wasn’t about documenting reality but about holding a feeling still long enough to look at it. Photography allows me to translate something unstable, like memory or mood, into form. It gives shape to the invisible.

Can you walk us through the concept behind your recent project Time, Machine? How did the idea originate?

Time, Machine began as a collaboration with designer Senyao Zhang, whose garments were created by deconstructing real mechanical structures. That act of dismantling and rebuilding became a metaphor for how memory and emotion are also taken apart and reconstructed through time. For me, time is not linear or precise but elastic and deeply human. The project moves between mechanical order and personal rhythm, between control and vulnerability.

Your work often feels cinematic and surreal. How do you approach staging and digital manipulation to achieve this unique atmosphere?

I think in terms of scenes rather than single images. Every frame begins as a constructed moment in which lighting, composition, and posture are carefully planned. What I am really pursuing is the tension between what is staged and what feels accidental. In post-production, I treat digital manipulation as an extension of the image, a way to stretch its emotion beyond what the camera can record.

In your creative process, how do you balance control with spontaneity or emotional instinct?

I approach emotion as an element rather than a state. Everything in my process begins with structure: casting, lighting, composition, and timing are all precisely arranged. Once that framework is in place, I guide the model toward a psychological tension and wait for the moment when something real appears. Emotion does not lead the work; it surfaces as a trace of control.

How do themes of identity and illusion appear in your visual storytelling?

For me, identity is never fixed but constantly shifting under observation. Every photograph contains both truth and illusion, revealing and concealing at the same time. I am interested in how people construct themselves within images, and how illusion can sometimes express something more honest than reality itself.

Are there particular artists, filmmakers, or memories that have significantly influenced your work?

I’m deeply influenced by filmmakers like David Fincher and Martin Scorsese, whose works reveal how precision can become emotion. Their control over rhythm and structure resonates with how I build images. In photography, I feel closely aligned with Gregory Crewdson, who stages psychological tension within meticulously constructed worlds. At the same time, my heart always goes to black-and-white film. The tactile grain and imperfection of analog photography remain essential to how I see. In that sense, Daido Moriyama has shaped my approach to intuition and raw texture, grounding my controlled images in something instinctive and human.

What do you hope viewers take away from Time, Machine and your broader artistic practice?

I don’t expect viewers to fully understand my work. What matters to me is whether they feel suspended inside it. If Time, Machine leaves them with a sense of stillness or disorientation, that is enough. For me, photography is not about clarity but about remaining within the space where emotion, illusion, and control coexist.

Thank you, Vic, for sharing your insights and artistic journey with HOLLYWAY Magazine. Your work beautifully captures the emotional depth and conceptual richness of photography as an art form. We look forward to seeing where your exploration of time, memory, and illusion takes you next.

Photographer: Zhixuan Guo @viccccccccc.g

Model: Lukas Shao @lukasshao

Fashion Designer: Senyao Zhang @zsytty