Ling Chen Is Lensed by Liu Song in 'The Power of Water' for Vogue Me China August 2019

Model Ling Chen drifts in ‘The Shape of Water’, perhaps a nod to great Chinese water goddesses like Ehuang & Nuying, goddesses of the Xiang River. The inspiring, haunting images resonate in tune with the matriarchal global unity of Africa’s Mam Wata — the mother of all humanity — and a genderless, pluralistic, non-race-based tradition that preceded monotheism.

Photographer Liu Song captures the poignant beauty, imbued with a quiet tension of a moment about to happen — a powerful rising of ancient traditions and consciousness — on full display in Vogue Me China August 2019.