Living with Cheki : producing the affective materiality of instant photography in the Chinese live idol culture

This article examines how analogue instant photography produces intimacy within China's live idol culture through the material affordances of cheki – Fujifilm Instax photographs created during post-performance ‘special events.’ Drawing on visual analysis of 80 publicly posted cheki images, ethnographic observation at 19 special events in Shanghai (2021-2025), and interviews with 12 fans, I argue that cheki's supposed technological obsolescence operates as a productive force in forming long-term intimate connections between idols and fans. The analysis reveals three interrelated mechanisms through which instant photography generates durable attachments: first, Fujifilm Instax's ninety-second development delay structures a shared temporality that gives rise to intense emotions; second, the photography process’ professionalism is downplayed by the amateurism of Fujifilm Instax cameras, and the instant photograph’s inscribable surface enables post-production labour to transform the photo – signatures, drawings, personalized messages – that transforms standardized, mass-produced outputs into singular relational objects encoding long-term intimacy across multiple encounters; third, cheki’s analogue materiality – its portability, material presence, and irreproducibility – enables everyday spatial appropriation beyond consumption sites. These findings contribute to visual studies by repositioning instant photography from obsolete technology recuperated through nostalgia to persistent infrastructure for commercial intimacy in East Asian cultural industries.