Overseas Chinese art flows into Shenzhen

Artist Mimian Hsu, who lives and works in Costa Rica, poses for a photo. The photo is on display at the newly opened "Where the Sea Reaches" exhibition at He Xiangning Art Museum.

The "Where the Sea Reaches" exhibition is the 7th Global Overseas Chinese Artists Exhibition at the He Xiangning Art Museum. Centered on the sea as its guiding theme, the exhibition brings together 10 Chinese artists based in Ireland, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Netherlands, the U.K., Uruguay and Australia. 

Through oil painting, watercolor, photography, video and installation, they present observations and reflections shaped by cross-cultural experience. Collectively, the works suggest that Chinese culture, like seawater, flows across the globe — fluid, diverse and inclusive — sustained through migration and exchange.

"At the Edge of the Water," created by Jessie Yingying Gong, is inspired by coastal mangrove trees. The artist sees mangrove tree movements as echoing human migration. Photos by Cao Zhen unless otherwise stated

This year, the exhibition added an artist residency program, inviting five artists to spend a month in Shenzhen. They also visited Taishan, Jiangmen and the Chaoshan area to trace the history of overseas Chinese from multiple perspectives. Their site-specific works offer insights into the cultural diversity and human geography of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

During their residency in Nantou Ancient Town, the Bagua Artist Association — led by Vancouver-based duo Sean Cao and Katharine Meng-yuan Yi — hosted a studio open day in August and invited neighbors to sample orange chicken, an American-style Chinese dish. 

Orange chicken is served to neighbors at Nantou Ancient Town during the Bagua Artist Association's studio open day in August. Photo from He Xiangning Art Museum's official WeChat account

Chinese dishes abroad often differ from what are typical in China because of ingredient availability, cooking methods and historical adaptation. By serving this American-style orange chicken, the artists prompted reflection on migration, food, identity and cultural fusion from a diasporic perspective.

The duo's project, titled "Wah Kiu Food Court" ("wah kiu" is Cantonese for "overseas Chinese"), is on view at the exhibition and features photographs of 30 American-style Chinese dishes. The brightly colored images, arranged against a red backdrop like an oversized Chinese restaurant menu, highlight the creativity and vitality of cultural adaptation and evoke the complexity of hybridity that emerges from cultural flows.

Photos of American-style Chinese dishes are on display at the exhibition.

Chinese-Canadian artist and curator Charlotte Yao photographed Chinatowns in Vancouver and San Francisco before beginning her art residency in the GBA. She sees North American Chinatowns and the hometowns of overseas Chinese in China as built by the same people, and expected architectural echoes across the ocean. 

Then in Guangdong, she photographed Li Garden and Zili Village in Kaiping and the Chen Cihong Residence in Shantou. "When I printed and pinned the photos on the wall, they began to merge — it became impossible to tell which were local and which were overseas. That ambiguity felt familiar to me," she said.

A visitor checks a photo's location when observing Charlotte Yao's "Where Is the Hometown of Overseas Chinese."

At the exhibition, visitors are invited to guess each photo's location before it is revealed. This interactive guess-and-reveal activity sparks conversation, transcends geographical boundaries and lets viewers experience the surprising intertwining of cultural connections.

Cai Xianliang, director of the He Xiangning Art Museum, said the Global Overseas Chinese Artists Exhibition has become an important academic program since its launch in 2014, promoting nearly 100 Chinese artists to the world. He added that the program will expand to include literature, music, dance, architecture, photography and design to broaden its scope and foster cultural exchange.

Visitors are drawn to an installation created by Melbourne-based artist Wei Weng.

A painting created by Cuba-born artist José Antonio Choy.

Wang Xiaosong, curator of the exhibition, noted that over the past 11 years, the project has also recorded oral histories amounting to roughly 300,000 Chinese characters, preserving numerous touching stories and fresh perspectives from artists whose lives span home and abroad.

Jin Xiu, vice chairperson of the Shenzhen Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said overseas Chinese artists play a significant role in spreading Chinese culture globally. Through this exhibition series, Shenzhen residents can see works that blend East and West, and many participating artists have forged collaborations with GBA art organizations, bringing new energy to the region.