39.37" x 118.11" / 100 x 300 cm

2024

Parallel Metropolis marks a fresh start in my creative journey. Since moving to New York in 2018, I’ve embarked on a life filled with uncertainty and discovery. Over the past five years, I’ve traveled a lot between Shanghai and New York, navigating unfamiliar spaces while carrying a perspective deeply rooted in my origins. Immersed in daily interactions with the Western world, I’ve continually reflected on how these cultural collisions might reshape the context of my work.

At first, I viewed this city like a tourist, until its once unfamiliar streets became familiar. Though I had always intended to make New York the foundation of my work, for a long time, I didn’t take a single photograph. An inner voice kept asking: What does this city really mean to me? Why here, and why now?

It wasn’t until one day in 2023, while gazing at the architecture of Lower Manhattan from Battery Park—layered, intricate, rich in color, and imposing in its solemnity—that I was reminded of the landscapes by Northern Song Dynasty painter Fan Kuan, and the highest praise given by art historians to Chinese landscapes: Qi Yun Sheng Dong (Spirit Resonance). In that moment, I felt a profound connection that transcended time and space. The aesthetic of nature in East Asian art and the modern, technology-driven skyline seemed worlds apart, yet in that instant, they merged into one.

Since then, I’ve had an epiphany: my unique perspective can give a city new meaning, and the essence of art lies in transcending the boundaries of time, place, and culture. Through this series, I aim to present the New York I see, one that is deeply personal. As I worked on these pieces, I began to realize that my identity as an artist had fundamentally shifted—I no longer belong solely to Shanghai, nor will I ever fully belong to New York. I have truly become a creator living in parallel worlds. This is why I named the series Parallel Metropolis, marking the start of a new chapter.