With the invention of digital photography and its integration into every smartphone on the planet, most of us constantly document everyday life for the sake of it. We take photos…

With the invention of digital photography and its integration into every smartphone on the planet, most of us constantly document everyday life for the sake of it. We take photos of our food and other mundane events, adding it to the endless stream of imagery in our digital camera roll, never to thoughtfully consider it again. It’s rare to come across a massive collection of candid photos that evoke a sense of intimacy that’s inseparable from their fleeting nature – a decisive moment rooted in the tenderness of affection and understanding.

For artist Coca Dai, this impulsive documentation defined his photographic practice far before he had a smartphone, resulting in a massive archive of images of his wife, Judy Zhu. Coca began photographing Judy soon after they met in 2008, and never, ever stopped. After almost a decade, the photographer realized that his archive actually functioned as an impressive coming-of-age story of a young woman who, over an endless stream of visual documentation, fluctuates between love, anger, irritation and calmness. His series Judy Zhu 2008-2015 is the raw story of a modern woman, carefully documented by the co-lead in her daily life.