It may look, especially at this time of year, as though they’re taking a break from an Easter parade. With their big orange shoes and plump yellow bodysuits, they could be taken for the kind of cute fluffy chicks that, in the paschal context, are evoked as symbols of rebirth and new life. In fact, dressed as ducklings and caught in a moment of respite by Chinese photographer Dong Wei, these workers have been waddling the streets of Chengdu to promote the city’s China Food and Drinks Fair. The image is part of Wei’s series The Gathering Table, which is shortlisted in the documentary section of this year’s Sony world photography awards. “The series narrates urban expressions of Chinese collectivism,” says Wei, who is based in Chengdu. As he frames it, this form of collectivism “is neither as glamorous as depicted in urban promotional materials, nor [the sort of] exotic spectacle seen through a foreigner’s lens.” Instead, in his photos of group exercise routines, communal bathers and doomscrolling ducklings, Wei observes “traditional social customs awkwardly grafted onto modern life, with collectivism permeating the most ordinary corners of the city”.
Chengdu’s food and drinks fair, organised twice a year by the China Sugar and Wine Group Corporation,, which takes place twice a year is one of the largest of its kind in the country, with 3,000 exhibitors showcasing 300,000 products to 150,000 professional buyers. An exhausting business, especially if you’ve been tasked with wandering around outside the venue for three days in an outsized duck costume. In their precious moments of downtime, these part-time workers have chosen to huddle together – a cluster of bright sunny colours amid the grey and blue – and yet they are all in their own separate worlds: each has a phone in their hands, all but one transfixed by the screen.
“This is not satire, but pure observation,” Wei says of the series, though he might as well be talking about this particular image. “It also defines my street photography aesthetic: a coexistence of reality and surrealism, retrieving ethereal, otherworldly light hidden within the mundane alleyways of everyday life.”
Wei is a finalist in the Professional competition, Sony world photography awards 2026 exhibition at Somerset House, from 17 April to 4 May. Use the promo code OBSERVER15 for a 15% discount on tickets to the exhibition.