Gao Shan's award-winning photobook "The Eighth Day" takes its name from the photographer's personal history – on the eighth day after his birth, Shan was adopted. While growing up, Shan's relationship with his adoptive mother was often indifferent and aloof. It wasn't until he turned his camera on his mother that he started to understand the unique nuances of her lived experience. In the Eighth Day, Gao Shan uses his camera not as a tool for observation but as an instrument to break open and dissect their relationship, ultimately bringing them closer together. The result is an intimate, touching, and poignant photographic portrayal of what it means to see and be seen for the first time.