18th August 2025 ~ 24th August 2025
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Brighter than White, Darker than Blue
Venue: Fitzrovia Gallery, London
Curated by: Hongqian Zhang
Artist: Cheng Linyao (Lin Zi)
Brighter than White, Darker than Blue was a solo exhibition I co-curated at Fitzrovia Gallery in August 2025, featuring the latest body of work by Chinese ceramic artist Cheng Linyao (Lin Zi). As a formal UK representative of Cheng’s practice through ArtFlow Studio, I worked closely with the artist to shape the exhibition narrative, spatial concept, and public communication strategy.
The exhibition reimagined blue-and-white porcelain as a living cosmology.
My goal as curator was to emphasize the dynamic tension between material history and present identity—to allow porcelain to be read not as artifact, but as an evolving, emotionally resonant medium.
Through cobalt pigment, hand-built sculptural forms, and experimental glazing, Cheng constructed a contemporary language rooted in traditional Jingdezhen techniques.
I developed the spatial concept with the idea of porcelain constellations—allowing vessels, sculptures, and painterly surfaces to form clusters that echoed water, ink, fire, and breath. Lighting, pacing, and silence were essential components of the installation design, creating a soft ritualistic atmosphere for slow looking.
As curators, I also framed the exhibition around cultural continuity and reinvention: how heritage survives, transforms, and translates across geography.
I wrote the bilingual wall texts and outreach copy, and invited cross-disciplinary visitors to engage in dialogue around craft, contemporary Asian identity, and female artistic lineage.
This project remains one of my most immersive curatorial experiences in connecting traditional craft with contemporary exhibition-making—bridging ceramics, identity, and imagination in a space that felt both grounded and celestial.
2025