Still Life: Danlu Zheng Solo Exhibition

‘Still Life’ brings together works from different stages of Danlu Zheng’s practice, exploring the body, materials and environment through moving image, photography and experimentation. About Stillness and movement may seem like opposing states. Yet neither our bodies, the materials around us, nor the way we understand the world remains unchanged. What appears to have taken its final form may simply be a moment within a much longer process of transformation. Still Life brings together works created by Danlu Zheng at different stages of her artistic practice, reflecting her ongoing exploration of the relationships between the body, materials and the environment. A body moves through different landscapes, continually shaped by its encounters with the world around it; human hair, once separated from the body, becomes a starting point for exploring the possibilities of material regeneration; a fleeting tear crystallises, revealing an intricate microscopic landscape. Through moving image, costume, photography and material experimentation, these works explore the continuity of life and matter, inviting us to reconsider how we understand disappearance, waste and the possibilities of regeneration. These works also reflect the evolution of the artist's own thinking and practice. Beginning with a curiosity about life and existence, her practice has developed from expressing abstract philosophical ideas through visual forms to hands-on material research and experimentation, and further towards questioning the possibilities and practical limitations of material innovation. The cycle of construction, destruction and reorganisation exists not only within the artworks themselves, but also throughout her creative process. An idea takes shape, encounters limitations in practice, and is reconsidered through new discoveries. What once seemed to be an answer may become the starting point for another question. As T. S. Eliot wrote, “The end is where we start from.” Uncertainty is an inevitable part of life. Still Life brings these moments together, while the exploration itself continues beyond the exhibition. Read more Toggle Film / Video Multi-disciplinary Installation Photography Mixed media Design / Fashion Performance / Live Art