Over a span of six years, American photographer Priscilla Briggs traveled along the eastern seaboard of China to explore various facets of Chinese society within the context of a new brand of Communism that embraces ‘Capitalism with Chinese characteristics.’ The fascinating resulting work is published in Briggs’ first monograph, Impossible is Nothing: China’s Theater of Consumerism (Daylight Books, 16 May 2017).

The photographs document a culture that lives at the intersection of East and West. Rejecting the traditional values espoused by the Chinese Communist Party that common national goals take precedence over the needs of the individual, the forces of economic change in China have given birth to a burgeoning consumer class that is dramatically re-defining people’s lives–shaping their identity, values and aspirations for the future.

Briggs’ images highlight constructed realities within contemporary China as they relate to ideas of luxury and status modelled after Western capitalist values. At the same time, there are hints in her work of what lies beneath the façade and the costs of global consumerism, as shown in Briggs’ photographs of factories and polluted waterways. Portraits, still life images and urban landscapes, rich in detail, are woven together to create a lyrical ode to the optimism and imagination of a country where anything seems possible.

Impossible is Nothing describes a forward-looking culture in the midst of a love affair with consumerism.

Published by Daylight Books in May 2017, Impossible is Nothing by Priscilla Briggs costs $45.