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The Residual Flame
2025, Six ices poems, six water reacts boards, wooden supports, 300cm*150cm*165cm
2025, Six ices poems, six water reacts boards, wooden supports, 300cm*150cm*165cm
The Residual Flame references the great burning of the Old Summer Palace in China in 1860, when the Second Opium War occurred. There were 4,000 British and French soldiers who participated in the burning, destroying, and looting of countless invaluable artefacts from the Old Summer Palace. The destruction lasted for three days, consuming one of the wealthiest and most culturally significant imperial gardens in the world.
I cast six poems from the Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace into physical ice. These poems were written by the Qianlong Emperor, describing forty locations within the palace. During the burning, along with countless artefacts, the original poems and their transcripts were partly destroyed or looted to the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Beneath each poem, a seemingly blank panel is placed, and images of the historical sites corresponding to the poem appear when water drips from the ice as the poems begin melting. As the poems melt and the water spreads, the images of the past emerge, reminding the audience that what they see is only a fleeting trace of a deeper tragedy. The slow melting of ice echoes the residual flame of 1860—a fire that began long ago, yet continues burning in the hearts of many Chinese people.
I cast six poems from the Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace into physical ice. These poems were written by the Qianlong Emperor, describing forty locations within the palace. During the burning, along with countless artefacts, the original poems and their transcripts were partly destroyed or looted to the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Beneath each poem, a seemingly blank panel is placed, and images of the historical sites corresponding to the poem appear when water drips from the ice as the poems begin melting. As the poems melt and the water spreads, the images of the past emerge, reminding the audience that what they see is only a fleeting trace of a deeper tragedy. The slow melting of ice echoes the residual flame of 1860—a fire that began long ago, yet continues burning in the hearts of many Chinese people.
2026
Painting series: I shut my eyes through light and darkness
2025
Anthropocene
Ephemeral Withstood
The Residual Flame
When you see me, when will you see me?
2024
Spectacle of Bubbles
This is My Street
2023
An Excavation on the “British” Land
Painting series: I shut my eyes through light and darkness
2025
Anthropocene
Ephemeral Withstood
The Residual Flame
When you see me, when will you see me?
2024
Spectacle of Bubbles
This is My Street
2023
An Excavation on the “British” Land