The group show “潆洄 Confluence” at ACENTRIC Space in Shanghai (Zhujiajiao), where I exhibited alongside two artists Chaeyeon Hong (Korea) and Tianming Zhou (Alaric) (China). 23-30.08.2025
I presented the project called “Ode to Shadows of Zhujiajiao”. It consisted of two parts — paintings and monumental human figures, reflecting on the fluidity of time. On one hand, it draws inspiration from the old water town of Zhujiajiao, with its canals, narrow windows, and fleeting shadows, as well as the distinctive characters of its inhabitants, particularly the elderly. On the other, it connects to my earlier project Generation Link (2017–2019), developed after traveling through multiple Asian countries.
In that work, I examined the consequences of global influence and how the younger generation, shaped by social media and the internet, began to form a more unified identity despite vast cultural differences. In contrast, I chose to turn my attention to the older generation — those whose lives unfolded without digital saturation, preserving unique habits, features, and ways of being. Through my art, I sought not only to contemplate the aesthetic beauty of diversity inscribed in the faces of the elderly, but also to memorialize what may be the last generation untouched by digital unification.
The Chinese proverb says: “The previous generation plants the trees, the next enjoys the shade.” This shade becomes both metaphor and structure in my work — a monumental polyptych spanning more than six meters. Across four paintings, shadow functions as an allegory of continuity, shelter, and transmission — a visual space where memory and history are not static, but fluid, like the waters of Zhujiajiao itself. In this sense, the project articulates a profoundly localized response to the changing cultural landscapes of contemporary China.