La Cresta degli Dei -The Himalayas in Platinum Prints,

Milan, 27 October 2026 – La Cresta degli Dei. The Himalayas in Platinum Prints, a solo exhibition by Zhang Chaoyin, photographer for Chinese National Geography and a leading figure in contemporary landscape and documentary photography in China, opened yesterday.

The exhibition is hosted at {STAMBERGA} in Milan and will remain open to the public until 11 November 2026, Monday to Saturday, from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm.For over forty years, Zhang Chaoyin has pursued a systematic exploration of the Himalayan region, building, through film photography, a visual and cultural atlas of what is known as the planet’s “Third Pole.” His work combines geographical observation, field experience and a sensitivity to the human dimension of the landscape. Li Shuanke, Director of Chinese National Geography, describes him as “an explorer endowed with an artist’s sensibility, whose photographic language has long transcended the pursuit of pure aesthetics.”The exhibition project finds a particularly fitting setting at {STAMBERGA}, a space whose vision closely resonates with this research. Founded on the experience of its founder, Marco Beretta, {STAMBERGA} has gradually evolved from a photography gallery into a multifunctional space bringing together photography, books and Eastern culture. It is a place shaped around slowness, curiosity and the direct experience of images and objects. Within this context, Zhang Chaoyin’s practice—grounded in decades of travel, observation and analogue work—enters into dialogue with a different understanding of photography: not merely an image to be viewed, but an experience to be explored with time and attention.

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The exhibition brings together more than 20 works produced using the platinum-palladium printing process on paper and silk. Through these works, the photographer conveys the complexity of the Himalayan landscape, weaving together geographical observation, memory, culture and human experience. With its tonal depth and distinctive material quality, platinum-palladium printing becomes an integral part of the artist’s practice, transforming photography into an image designed to endure.At the heart of Zhang Chaoyin’s research lies the monumental volumeHimalaya, published by Chinese National Geography: an encyclopaedic work featuring more than 3,000 images and 2,900 pages of in-depth scientific research. The volume brings together photography, geography and field research, extending the photographic language into a broader dimension of knowledge. The original edition of the book is presented in the exhibition as an integral part of the visitor’s journey.

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With La Cresta degli Dei, Zhang Chaoyin brings to Milan, in the presence of the Alps, a vision of the Himalayas shaped over time through thousands of images and more than forty years of field experience. In dialogue with {STAMBERGA}’s commitment to photography, travel and cross-cultural encounters, the exhibition offers a slow, contemplative experience of the image, where landscape, memory and the materiality of photography converge.