HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Artist / Filmmaker / P4 Theater

HE FA 何发

Beijing, China / Photography, moving image, theatre and film

In a warm-toned diagonal close-up, one person leans above another upturned face. An arm enters from the left with a red cord around the wrist. A patterned pillow and pale bedding remain visible along the right edge.

Human Surrender, 2023-2024. Film still.

He Fa is an artist and filmmaker based in Beijing, China. His practice encompasses photography, moving-image installations, theatre, film and writing. Early works fragment and reassemble photographs; Fafalish and YourTube bring language, bodies and screens into the image. As a co-initiator and long-term host of P4 Theater, he develops sustained processes of rehearsal, performance and filming. He initiated, produced and edited Human Surrender (Shoot Self with You), whose direction and screenplay are collectively credited to the crew.

hefa.p4theater.cn/en
563073224@qq.com
Instagram: @fa.p4theater

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HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Biography & CV

He Fa works across photography, moving-image installations, theatre and film. Based in Beijing, he has also studied and made work in San Francisco. His early photographic practice, developed from around 2009, fragments and reassembles portraits, cities and landscapes. I, Shanshui, Central and Cocktail approach photography through bodily distance, montage, spatial rearrangement and the sorting of digital files.

Hamlet’s Mirror (2015) interweaves performance, projection and screens. Made during his time in San Francisco, Fafalish (2017) transforms translation, accent and transcription into video and printed text. YourTube (2018) organizes viewing through linked seats, multiple screens and exposed cables.

He Fa co-initiated P4 Theater with Zhang Shaohua and continues as its long-term host and organizer. This Beijing-based practice has worked in theatres, factories, offices, boxing spaces and bookshops, connecting recruitment, rehearsal, performance, documentation and writing. Human Surrender grew through collective rehearsals, filming and The Last Rehearsal performance in 2023, becoming a film of approximately 156 minutes in 2024. The end credits assign direction and screenplay collectively to the crew. He Fa is credited as initiator, producer and editor, with contributions to cinematography, art direction, rehearsal texts and subtitles.

He Fa studied photography in the School of Design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and pursued MFA studies at California College of the Arts (CCA). Shanshui: Red and Shanshui: White were included in the CAFA Art Museum’s 2012 undergraduate collection. Fafalish was exhibited at CCA’s Simpson Library in 2017; in 2018 he participated in the CCA MFA Thesis Exhibition under the name Fa He. He currently uses the English name He Fa.

A person wearing thin-framed glasses sits against a plain gray background. Their torso turns slightly while their face angles toward the left. A blue-and-white striped shirt, short dark hair and uneven facial lighting define the portrait.

Selected education & public records

2008-2012Photography studies, School of Design, Central Academy of Fine Arts.
2012Shanshui: Red and White included in the CAFA Art Museum undergraduate collection.
2015-Co-initiator of P4 Theater with Zhang Shaohua; long-term host and organizer.
2016-2018MFA studies at California College of the Arts (CCA).
2017Fafalish, CCA Simpson Library, San Francisco, October 2-December 15.
2018CCA MFA Thesis Exhibition, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco.

Chinese name: 何发. Current English name: He Fa. Historical English records also use Fa He; citations may retain the name as it appeared in the source.

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Selected works / 1

Two profiles frame the left and right edges while a person with glasses sits cross-legged between them. Red and striped garments fill the foreground. Yellow-green light covers the central figure against an otherwise dark theatrical background.

Human Surrender / Shoot Self with You

2023–2024 / Film, rehearsal, live performance

Initiator, producer and editor; direction and screenplay collectively created by the crew

A collective film grows through recruitment, rehearsal and public performance. How does shared time enter the edit?

hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/human-surrender/

Multiple monitors rise in tiers against a pale wall, displaying different images. Cables hang between the screens. Narrow coloured rods lean diagonally nearby, while small plastic stools in bright colours gather on the bare concrete floor.

YourTube

2018 / Multi-screen video installation

Artist; graduate thesis work

Screens are connected and people sit together. When does connection become participation?

hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/yourtube/

Thick blue lines depict simplified people across a white square. Circular heads, dotted facial features and extended limbs point in different directions. Figures continue beyond the edges, producing an all-over pattern of interlocking bodies.

Sangou GIF Theatre

Listed in a 2016 proposal; public images and texts in 2022 / Online images, looping animation and text

FakingAosome: He Fa and Zhang Aoshuang

A virtual character builds a theatre through repetition, transformation and brief pieces of language.

hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/sangou-gif-theatre/

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Selected works / 2

Thick black horizontal and vertical lines divide a frontal portrait into unequal rectangles. The person has short hair and glasses, with lowered eyelids. Gray and dark green background areas are also segmented while the face remains continuous.

I

2012 / Archival inkjet print

He Fa

A macro lens travels across the body; individual photographs assemble into an enlarged self-portrait.

hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/i-2012/

Pale peaks and sky occupy the upper half, above dark green and ochre woodland. Many small rectangular photographs overlap. Tree trunks and rocky contours appear intermittently through the layered texture across the complete horizontal composition.

Shanshui

2012 / Photography, digital montage, light boxes

Artist

From a distance, a landscape. Up close, photographs made at different times and positions.

hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/shanshui/

A horizontal blue projection illuminates two elongated figures in a dark space. The left body extends downward while the right outline overlaps folded upright surfaces. Sharp screen edges contrast with faint blue reflections on the floor below.

Hamlet’s Mirror

2015 / Moving image and performance

Co-created by He Fa and Zhang Aoshuang (FakingAosome)

Performers, projections and screens reflect one another as Hamlet is broken into shifting fragments.

hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/hamlets-mirror/

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Selected works

Selected photography, moving image, installation, theatre, film and current digital form-making. Completed works and research in progress are identified; each project retains its specific credits, roles and material status.

17 entries / 1 / 2

YourTube

Multi-screen video installation

Artist; graduate thesis work

Fafalish

Language, video, printed text

Artist and exhibition curator

Shixiang

Photography theatre

Collaboration with Zhang Shaohua; theory, structure, framework and interpretation

Final Solution

Participatory theatre, a deliberation game and process documentation

Purples co-initiation, participation in assemblies and authored reflection

Sangou GIF Theatre

Online images, looping animation and text

FakingAosome: He Fa and Zhang Aoshuang

Shanshui

Photography, digital montage, light boxes

Artist

I

Archival inkjet print

He Fa

Hamlet’s Mirror

Moving image and performance

Co-created by He Fa and Zhang Aoshuang (FakingAosome)

Central

Archival inkjet print

He Fa

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Selected works

Selected photography, moving image, installation, theatre, film and current digital form-making. Completed works and research in progress are identified; each project retains its specific credits, roles and material status.

17 entries / 2 / 2

Wu

Archival inkjet print

He Fa

Lose losing

Any surface suitable for projection

He Fa

Untitled

Archival inkjet print

He Fa

Gewu Studio / Twelve Water Lamps

Co-creation, 3D printing and product design

He Fa: photography, conceptual development, form exploration and artistic direction; collaborative studio practice

XIN GEWU

Photography, objects and space

He Fa: photography, conceptual development and artistic direction

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Early explorations

Photographic studies, image experiments and records of reviews and processes from the artist’s formative years. Original titles, images and statements trace the development of the work.

14 entries / 1 / 2

Sanhetan

Photography, archival pigment print

He Fa

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Early explorations

Photographic studies, image experiments and records of reviews and processes from the artist’s formative years. Original titles, images and statements trace the development of the work.

14 entries / 2 / 2

Yigui

Photography, light box

He Fa

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Collaborative practice

Work developed with P4 and other collaborators: initiating, programming, producing, participating and documenting. Each project identifies He Fa’s contribution and retains the credits of others.

24 entries / 1 / 3

Becoming Wind, Breaking Waves

Personal narrative, collective devising and documentation proposal

Facilitated the proposal and co-authored the call; proposed continuing documentation with a recording team

Personal Chronicle / PHA

Interview archives, collective creation and public documentation

Author of the framework and declaration; P4 project organisation

Happiness Kingdom

Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment

Co-design of formats, rules and models, and organisation through P4

Breaking the Moon

Theatre, rehearsal and production archive

Supervising producer; rehearsal discussion and creative coordination

Vortex

North Wind Theatre collective creation

Collective creator, member of the announced performing roster, author of a signed article

Romance Theatre

Continuing workshops, relational practice and documentation

Organisation and continuing practice, documented in his interview

Saturday Four-Hour Duel Club

Interactive theatre, a voting game and a transcript archive

Purples co-initiation and collaborative development of its game models

Iceberg

Intimate live theatre

Producer

Purples / Purple Action

Participatory theatre, role-playing and experiments in organisation

Co-initiated with Shen Bolun and Shao Yifan

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Collaborative practice

Work developed with P4 and other collaborators: initiating, programming, producing, participating and documenting. Each project identifies He Fa’s contribution and retains the credits of others.

24 entries / 2 / 3

The Rooftop Howler

Theatre, rehearsal and documentation

P4 organizing and 3P documentation

Hallucination

Proscenium theatre and production practice

Production collaborator, according to his 2022 retrospective

Cocoon

Dance theatre and collective production

Production and organisational collaboration, signed writing and participation in backstage interviews

Paper Screening

Collective drawing, live narration and workshops

P4 Screenings framework and organisation; P4’s collaborative programme with Lisa

Shadow Counterpoint

Collective theatre, GIF and text

Named collaborator; collective P4 creation

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Collaborative practice

Work developed with P4 and other collaborators: initiating, programming, producing, participating and documenting. Each project identifies He Fa’s contribution and retains the credits of others.

24 entries / 3 / 3

P4 Theater

Long-term art practice, live work and archives

Co-initiated with Zhang Shaohua; long-term host and organizer

Theatre Murder Case

Immersive theatre, drama and games

He Fa and Zhang Aoshuang / FakingAosome

HE FA / 何发ARTIST DOSSIER / 2026.09.18

Proposals

Surviving proposals for spaces, exhibitions and collective projects. Plans and drawings follow the original documents; planned dates and scale are distinguished from realised work.

5 entries / 1 / 1