Riverside
This ongoing phenomenological painting project explores the changing atmosphere and urban shifts along the Yangtze River in Southwest China. By deeply observing the riverbanks, I seek to capture the evolving spirit of these coastal cities through the textures of their water and soil. My creative process is physically rooted in the landscape; I collect local geological stones and grind them into handmade pigments, using the earth itself to document the environment. The project specifically investigates the social and ecological transitions within the industrial residential compounds of Chongqing, serving as a reflection on the future ecological state of East Asian riverside societies.
Wangjiang Residential District
Nestled at the rugged base of Tieshanping, where the steep cliffs of the Copper Drum Gorge surrender to the pulse of the Yangtze, lies the Wangjiang Residential District. It is a place where the echoes of heavy artillery production have slowly dissolved into the rhythmic washing of the river against the shore.
Here, the architecture of a fading industrial empire—weathered red-brick dormitories and moss-covered Soviet-style facades—clings to the hillsides like barnacles on a ship’s hull. In this "peninsula of memory," the boundary between the artificial and the elemental is blurred; the soil carries the metallic tang of mid-century labor, and the riverbank stones bear the silent weight of generations who lived, aged, and dreamed within the shadow of the plant. As the tides of urbanization pull the young toward the city’s glowing core, Wangjiang remains a haunting, beautiful fragment of the past—a landscape of rusted iron and wild greenery where the deep time of the river slowly reclaims the iron-wrought history of man.
Here, the architecture of a fading industrial empire—weathered red-brick dormitories and moss-covered Soviet-style facades—clings to the hillsides like barnacles on a ship’s hull. In this "peninsula of memory," the boundary between the artificial and the elemental is blurred; the soil carries the metallic tang of mid-century labor, and the riverbank stones bear the silent weight of generations who lived, aged, and dreamed within the shadow of the plant. As the tides of urbanization pull the young toward the city’s glowing core, Wangjiang remains a haunting, beautiful fragment of the past—a landscape of rusted iron and wild greenery where the deep time of the river slowly reclaims the iron-wrought history of man.
Though close to downtown Chongqing and linked by a new bridge, this area still feels like a pocket of the 1990s where time slows down. Every evening, as young professionals drive back from their city jobs, it creates a strange, beautiful overlap of different eras.
The colors of the riverbank are quiet and muted. Under Chongqing’s heavy, low-light skies, the river softens the hard edges of the earth and stone. My palette is drawn directly from the local soil and river stones, which have been tumbled and smoothed by the Yangtze. The unique microorganisms within the water subtly shift the tones of the earth, tinting the mud and pebbles with the river's own signature. To create my pigments, I grind these materials and bind them with river water, allowing the colors to set under a simulated sun
Painting with mineral pigments brings unexpected serendipity. I randomly mimic geological processes, like washing rock powder with river water or letting copper oxidize. The subjects mostly capture the surreal atmosphere of my field site visits.
Titile：The Lake
Material: Mineral Pigments, Stone, Acrylic
Size: 120cm* 55cm
Titile：Where They Going
Material: Mineral Pigments, Stone, Acrylic
Size: 270cm* 173cm
