Metamorph
05.12th May 2025 ~ 18th May 2025
Theme: Identity, transformation, and social adaptation
Metamorph was a multi-disciplinary group exhibition curated and produced by Hongqian Zhang as part of ArtFlow Studio’s annual programme. Held at Espacio Gallery in May 2025, the exhibition brought together twenty-two contemporary artists working across installation, painting, sound, digital illustration, and video to explore transformation as a continuous psychological, social, and perceptual process.
Venue: Espacio Gallery, London
Date: May 2025
Curated by: Hongqian Zhang (ArtFlow Studio)
Artists: 22 participating artists from the UK, China, MENA and Southeast Asia
The title “Metamorph” alludes to a continuous state of becoming—a fluid process in which identity is not fixed, but in constant negotiation with environment, perception, and personal history.
The exhibition featured a wide range of practices, from conceptual self-portraits and performative installations to myth-inspired digital landscapes and sensory sculptures. Each artist brought a unique lens shaped by personal, diasporic, and generational experience. Works responded to themes of gender, memory, societal expectations, post-human intimacy, and psychological rupture.
How identities are constantly reconstructed through memory, cultural negotiation, and emotional adaptation. Artists responded to questions of gender fluidity, emotional rupture, digital dissociation, social anxiety, and cultural displacement, offering personal yet universally resonant perspectives
2025
Participating Artists:
Xie Wei, Xintong Cai, Sansan Xie, Xinyue Liang, Xiaobin Zhang, Xiaoran Fan, Xueer Bi, Ruiben He, Lexiong Ying, Zijing Deng, Jingchen Han, Abbas Khan, Jiaqi Liao, Yuke Cao, Lillian Zhu, Anning Song, Mengzhu Li, Longfei Jiang, Podyman Alice, Jiani Deng, Quinnie Yan, and Hongqian Zhang
Zhang’s curatorial process extended beyond conceptual development. She led the entire production cycle, from writing the exhibition proposal and selecting artists, to coordinating artwork shipping, exhibition layout, and public programming.
She designed the spatial structure of the show to allow diverse media to coexist in layered dialogue, carefully considering visual rhythm, material proximity, and emotional pacing.
In addition, she managed all public communications, drafted bilingual texts and press materials, and secured coverage from major art media including Aesthetica Magazine, which praised the show for its “curatorial clarity and emotional intelligence.”
Throughout the project, Zhang also hosted the opening walkthrough, artist talks, and live events, positioning the exhibition as both a curatorial statement and a collaborative platform. Her work on Metamorph exemplifies a curatorial approach that merges conceptual rigor with production fluency, creating immersive, cross-cultural experiences grounded in artistic dialogue.