Tianjun Li’s exhibition Today, Tomorrow, and the Tales from the Wind explores the relationship between humans and nature through imaginative visual dialogues, fable-like parallels, and vocal experiments. The body of work reflects the artist’s experiences in moving to the Nordics and their observations of being in a changing natural environment. The exhibition on view at Photo North’s foyer gallery features works from Li’s earliest and latest projects A Goat in Blue (2018) and Today, Tomorrow, and the Tales from the Wind (2023–).
The series Today, Tomorrow, and the Tales from the Wind (2023–) combines photography-printed fabrics and sound, and presents an imaginative narrative exploring a fable-like parallel between human and nature. The project also uses double exposure and photo overlays combining images from the Nordic regions as well as China. The images on view are inspired by local stories, regional heritage, and myths—through reimagining a fragile utopia they offer a fable for a questioning tomorrow. Initially rooted in the artist’s grief over the loss of forests in their homeland and ecological degradation, the project has evolved into a nomadic narrative through field trips and artist residencies across the Nordic regions,.
The photography series A Goat in Blue (2018) sparked by an encounter with a goat on a seaside cliff reflects on the human-nature divide in the Anthropocene. The goat was seen as an “intrusion” among tourists, and inspired the artist to undertake a field trip with a local fisherman capturing the ecological changes through photography. Born in a seaside city in southern China, the artist has witnessed the severe environmental impact of rapid industrial and tourism development. Contrasting images of pollution—discarded glass, rusted metals, and polluted waters—with double exposures of the goat, Li creates surreal visuals on the relationship between humans and nature.
In addition to the two series of work, the sound works of Li’s vocal experiments simulate natural movements and social landscapes with a vocal range beyond four octaves, telling tales of truth and illusion through photography, voice, and imagination, extending photographic art into a multi-sensory expression.
Tianjun Li
Today, Tomorrow, and the Tales from the Wind
25.9.–18.11.2024
Photo North – Northern Photographic Centre, foyer gallery