Cross: Xia Tian Solo Exhibition

Xia Tian’s solo exhibition Cross does not point toward a fixed destination, but rather toward a state of transition. It concerns not only the crossing of space, but also shifts in perception and cognition: from the visible to the invisible, from human to nonhuman scales, from stable structures to processes of continual becoming.

 

Within this framework, the three projects are connected as a fluid trajectory. They are not independent bodies of work, but unfold across different dimensions as a shared inquiry into existence: when boundaries begin to loosen and certainties dissolve, how do we reposition ourselves within ongoing change?

 

At the Edge of Existence focuses on spiritual beliefs rooted in the Fujian region. Across islands and mountain enclaves—geographical margins—Xia Tian constructs a fragmented visual journey that traverses land and sea. The work also returns to memories of childhood, searching for a spiritual anchor beyond dominant narratives. The blurred and out-of-focus images deliberately resist clarity, preserving space for perception and imagination, while pointing to a state of faith that hovers between presence and obscurity.

 

If this work remains at the threshold of human experience, Plantasia moves further beyond it, shifting perception toward the nonhuman. Through the juxtaposition of the human body and plant forms, Xia Tian explores both resemblance and difference in structure. Skin and bark, veins and vascular systems enter into subtle visual correspondences, destabilizing seemingly fixed boundaries between species. This comparison extends beyond formal similarity; it becomes a way of sensing—an embodied experience of entanglement, permeability, and relation between life forms. Through slow and attentive perception, the work invites a reconsideration of both shared structures and fundamental differences across forms of life.

 

Chimera turns to the remnants of human activity. Within ruins, plants slowly infiltrate, entwine, and reorganize once-stable structures. What the images reveal is not sudden destruction, but an ongoing process of transformation. Here, the boundary between the “natural” and the “man-made” begins to dissolve. Concrete and soil, structure and growth interpenetrate, forming an inseparable hybrid condition. “Chimera” is no longer merely a metaphor, but a mode of existence in which different forms of life and matter coexist, compete, and co-generate within the same system.

 

From spiritual thresholds, to perceptual shifts, to material transformation, these three bodies of work trace a continuous unfolding trajectory. What they present are not separate themes, but different manifestations of the same movement: transitions and changes that occur across boundaries. Here, distinctions lose their stability, meaning remains in flux, and existence is always in the process of becoming. Perhaps we are not moving from one place to another, but are always already in the act of crossing.