with a signed photograph

The image on the cover of The Brightest Light Runs Too Fast is only revealed when exposed to temperatures above 27 degrees or by human touch. Otherwise, it remains black, a reference to, and a way to avoid, censorship of such images in China. Ren Hang was born in 1987 in Chang Chun, Jilin province, in Northeastern China, a region known as the Detroit of China due to the size of its automobile industry. He left his hometown for Beijing, aged 17, to study advertising. He began to stage nude photographs of his friends as a way to relieve the boredom he felt while studying at college. The Chinese government actively and routinely censored Hang's work, his photographs were defaced at Beijing exhibitions or confiscated by officials, and his website was often taken down. Ren Hang took his own life in 2017. He was 29.

First edition, one of 500 numbered copies, each accompanied by a signed original photograph; 8vo (225 x 168 mm, 8¾ x 6½ in); colour photographs, design by Ramon Pez; black endpapers, photo-illustrated thermal paper-covered boards, light rubbing to edges, common with this title, near-fine, original colour photograph (120 x 143 mm, 4¾ x 5¾ in) signed and dated by Hang in black ink in margin, inserted into a flap on rear endpaper; [80]pp.