“White clouds grey dogs” is inspired by a Chinese idiom that describes how the sky is constantly shifting. The expression alludes to impermanence, the unexpected, and the metamorphosis of the familiar.
The exhibition brings together works that hold narratives of the artist’s grandmother and the remnants of bodies that once existed. The space has traces of a fragmented, deserted beach. The forms seem to slowly emerge and dissolve, caught in an ongoing metamorphosis. Here, memories and dreams intertwine; the familiar emerges in new materials, forms, and scales.
The sculpture series Globetrotter consists of cowrie shells, carved in wood. Besides being souvenirs and carriers of memory, cowrie shells have also historically been used as currency and symbols of wealth in certain cultures. Whether they carry economic or emotional value, they become objects on the move.
Queenning Zhao works with sculpture, installation, and scenography. Her practice revolves around the transience of memories and places, in relation to a longing for origin. She investigates how we carry, collect, preserve, and reconstruct memories, and how this shapes our relation to the world around us. Drawing parallels to theatre sets, she explores the tension between different scales and the boundary between the authentic and the artificial.
Queenning Zhao (b. 1994) lives and works in Stockholm. She holds a bachelor’s degree in design from HDK (2017) and a master’s degree in spatial design from Konstfack (2022).
Hendrik Zeitler