Ren Hang (1987 - 2017) was a 29 year-old Photographer infamous in China for the way he experiments and express the nude human body. Much of his photography has been censored in his home country.

He was born in 1987 in Nong'an, a suburb of Changchun, of Jilin, one of the northern provinces in China- often referred to as the "Detroit of China".

At the age of 21, he began taking pictures.

He was studying Marketing, but he lost interest as he became more interested in taking photograph.

Taking photographs of his roommate's naked body was the first time he experimented with nudity - a source of inspiration throughout his career.

Hang has collaborated with Ai Wei Wei, who has also heralded and championed his photography.

He was a self-taught photographer.

Hang was arrested several times throughout his career as the Chinese government has banned outdoor nudity and pornographic images since 1949.

Despite his arrests, he continued to push boundaries and insisted his work was not taboo.

Hang also wrote poetry as a way to document his cyclical depression, something he suffered from.

He has published several books of his photography.

His works has been featured in many retrospectives which include Taschen. His photographs have also been exhibited around the world and received the Outset/ Unseen Exhibition Fund in 2016.

On February 24th, 2017, it was reported by one Hang's gallerists that he was found dead.

Dutch publication De Morgen claims that Hang's death was a suicide, based on comments from "entourage sources," but sources have yet to confirm.

He was living in Beijing.