Image courtesy of the artist
From November 4-19, 2022, New City Arts, supported by UVA Arts & the Office of the Provost & the Vice Provost for the Arts, presented In Pursuit of an Accord, an exhibition of work by Léo Zhang.
New City Arts' Welcome Gallery
114 3rd St. NE, Charlottesville, VA 22902
First Fridays
November 4 from 5-7:30PM; Artist talk at 6PM
Free and open to the public. All ages welcome.
Gallery Hours
Wednesday-Friday from 10AM-5PM; Saturday from 10AM-2PM
Exhibition Events
Tea with Léo Zhang: Nov 12 at Noon
Covid-19 Visitor Policy
Masks are encouraged for all visitors. Please do not come to Welcome Gallery if you have been exposed to COVID-19, are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, or have been advised to isolate or quarantine.
Listen to the Exhibition Playlist 🎧
Exhibition Statement (courtesy of the artist)
Born and raised in Windhoek, Namibia to Chinese immigrants, my work seeks to navigate migration and the continuous journey towards community. Through personal and generational narratives, my recent work explores the complexities of absence in the pursuit of community. Memory, environment, policy, and community dynamics are personal elements susceptible to such a change. My work concerns itself with understanding the malleability of such elements in the past, present and future.
The condition of migration often leads to a confrontation with the paradox of connection to former bodies of existence. This paradox presents itself further when we reach the midpoint of a transfer from one space to another. When the packing process is complete, I find myself staring at the collection of boxes and objects that once filled rooms with life and character. The familiar space is now decorated with a collection of rigid shapes that create a somber atmosphere for reflection as I depart. Is my life reduced to these boxes? Despite the physical transitions from one area to the next, the emotional connections are cemented in the former. These objects are relics of our past, carried with us as a form of remembrance, a reminder to move forward with the joys and burdens of what we are leaving behind. The weight of our worlds lies within these boxes. I seek to find harmony in this form of goodbye as I welcome new beginnings.
There exists an ambiguity of this mise en scene as one enters the settling process. In new beginnings, the weight of what you’ve left behind travels with you as mementos of your past. There are some things I cannot say goodbye to, and some that I simply have to carry. I seek a balance between these two scenes, to create a sense of harmony and confidence within this decision to migrate. How you feel is based on the temporal conditions that these boxes hold. Are they a reflection of the past or what you look for in the future?
About the Artist (courtesy of the artist)
Léo Zhang is a multidisciplinary visual artist born and raised in Windhoek, Namibia. His work utilizes digital materials in conversation with the physical juxtaposed with fluid and dynamic imagery. His work emphasizes movement surrounding issues of transnational migrations and globalization. Born to Chinese immigrant parents, his work focuses on topics of familial connections and the development of cultural canons across borders. In his practice he creates abstract environments and settings that take an interdisciplinary approach to the conversations surrounding topics of distance and intimate connections in a post human world. Navigation around his work discusses the socio-cultural impacts of migration and technologies role in shaping a new form of digital intimacy. Léo’s work is largely informed from an ethnographic approach, utilising personal archives and narratives to inform his work.
Photos by Stacey Evans Photography.
