Zi Xin’s practice draws on idiomatic language from both Eastern and Western cultures. She uses colloquial expressions as starting points to explore how meaning is formed, and how language can shape the way we see ourselves and the world around us.
Her debut solo exhibition, Words of Wisdom, brings Chinese, English and Spanish expressions into conversation with ceramics. Living in a second language has attuned her to the gaps between words and meaning: she may understand every word spoken, yet remain uncertain of what they signify together. Through humour and curiosity, Zi Xin explores the cultural meanings and expectations held within everyday expressions.
A key work, MaMaHuHu (马马虎虎), literally “horse horse tiger tiger”, takes a Chinese expression describing something vague or neither one thing nor another and turns its unusual language into a physical form.
Formally, Zi Xin’s work is informed by Chinese paper and fabric folk objects, including lanterns, kites and fabric toys. These objects often carry gestures of care and wish-making, yet they can also bear the weight of cultural expectations. She works within this visual language while questioning what is embedded within it, creating her own objects and narratives drawn from both Eastern and Western contexts.
The temporary nature of these folk objects is also reflected in her use of ceramics. Through clay, colour and fire, fragile forms and fleeting ideas are transformed into permanent objects. For Zi Xin, making is also an act of care and reclamation, creating space for childhood imagination, personal expression and a sense of self.
Words of Wisdom invites audiences to look at language differently: as something that carries culture, memory, humour and expectation, and as a way to connect with how other people see the world.
24th September - 22nd October
Opening night: Thursday 24th September from 6-8pm
