The Palimpsests

EDITION

2025, Shortlisted

school

Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, China

links

@zewen_an ↗

Hannah Arendt, in the opening of her work Between Past and Future, quotes Franz Kafka’s “He” to reveal the predicament of that time. Embodiments of the Past and the Future, two antagonists confront “He” from opposing directions. “He” fantasizes about breaking free from this relentless, repetitive struggle. Today, various illusions seem to offer avenues of escape, yet they persistently distort the individual’s perception of time and space.Certain images from memory perpetually resurface within perception, taking on new forms. In this recurring act, difference is generated anew, only to retreat once more into memory, awaiting its next manifestation. Thus, “the past is never dead; it continuously permeates the present.” I photograph now-abandoned factories, where many elements resonate with my memories and repeatedly resurface in reality. This work is grounded in the perception of time and memory, unfolding from suspended moments where the past overlaps with the present. The photographs, videos, and installations comprising the exhibition field aim to evoke the manifold modalities of memory. Functioning as a loose narrative through images, they do not seek to provide definitive interpretations. Instead, they act like “rhizomes”: while preserving their own intrinsic meaning, they seek possibilities for connection, imagination, and reconstruction with others. In doing so, they invite a reconsideration of every present moment—each poised to become both past and future.