The Vessel of Shadows 栖影之躯

Meng-Yu Yan's debut international solo exhibition at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Xiamen, China.

16.10.25 - 20.11.25

Perhaps we have all had such an experience: when gazing at ourselves in the mirror, a sense of strangeness rise up, as if another "self" is looking back from it. Those ineffable identity struggles and tangled memories of the past within us resurface in the gaze that fixes on our own reflection, mediated by the mirror’s reflection. These subtle yet tangible pangs of discomfort are the starting point of this exhibition. Twenty-eight photographs and a set of moving images together construct a dreamlike, surreal space that exists between mirror images and reality.

The exhibition opens with a series of photographic works infused with halos. Some were shot in France’s Brocéliande Forest—a site of great significance in the legends of King Arthur, while others were taken near the artist’s home. The halos in these images seem to create a "negative space" within the flat plane of the photographs. At the same time, images related to the waxing and waning of the moon, the illusory and real nature of mirror reflections, and the possession of the soul all attempt to point to the "shadow space" that adheres to the photographs. This "shadow" corresponds to a concept in Jungian psychoanalysis: what we once regarded as negative, dark, and contrary to our "persona" is also a wellspring of creativity and vitality.

Moving into the second section, the intent of the works becomes more prominent. In pieces such as Scars and Dreams, Another Ruin, and A Cut is a Prelude to Repair, the artist combines paper-cutting, scratching, mirror reflections, and flowing water with self-portraits, using these elements to metaphorize the struggles of identity formation and the possibility of reconstruction amid fragility. These self-portraits transcend the realm of mere self-documentation; they become the mirrors that reflect the visible and invisible aspects of trauma, as well as its concealment and revelation. In a nearly phenomenological approach, the artist transforms the act of creation itself into a ritual of self-interpretation. This is not a mere description of wounds, but an "operation": using the photographic grammar to dissect the structural existence of trauma and attempting to build a bridge of meaning at the site of fragmentation. Together, these works form a "dialectic of negation": only by confronting what is broken can truth be reached; only by acknowledging ruins can reconstruction take on spiritual significance.

At the end of the exhibition, Double Witness (2020)—twenty video letters created during Mengyu’s residency in Paris—takes center stage. With an almost mediumistic obsession, the artist retraced the final steps that writer Miaojin Qiu took in Paris before her suicide. Through the precise alignment of geography and time, they transformed their own body and life experiences into a medium, becoming a "contemporary mirror image" of Qiu Miaojin in terms of age, ethnicity, emotion, and gender identity. During this sustained practice, the artist’s reality gradually intertwined with the heartbreak, betrayal, and passion depicted in Qiu’s novels, ultimately blurring the boundaries between existence and creation, self and other. By leveraging the dislocation of time and space, the work connects the obscured history of the queer community, serving as a profound tribute and invocation of "queer hauntology."

As a first-generation Chinese-Australian queer artist, Mengyu’s works are rooted in intersecting cultural contexts and identity struggles. Through these pieces, they transform cultural dislocation, gender transgression, and emotional trauma into a poetic language of resistance, while continuously striving to delineate an inner world—one that is in constant flux, struggle, and rebirth—between mirror images, specters, and ruins.

● Text｜Li Zijian

我们或许都有过这样的经历，当凝视镜子中的自己，一种陌生感从心中升起，仿佛有另一个“我”在从镜中回望？内心中那些难以言说的身份纠结与过往记忆的缠绕通过镜面的反射，在凝视自己的目光中再次浮现。这些微妙而真实的刺痛感受，正是本次展览的起点。28张摄影作品与一组影像构建了一个在镜像与现实之间的，如梦般的超现实空间。

展览开始于一系列带有着光晕的摄影作品，有些拍摄于法国的柏切利安森林，这是亚瑟王传说中的重要地点，另有一些拍摄于艺术家的住所附近。这些景象中的光晕，仿佛在照片的平面内营造了一个负向的空间。与此同时，月亮的盈缺，镜像的虚实，灵魂的附身等等相关的图像也都在试图指向那个在照片中附生的阴影空间。这里的阴影也对应着荣格的精神分析中的概念，那些原以为消极的、黑暗的、与我们的人格面具相对的的东西，也同样是创造力和生命力的源泉。

转入第二部分，作品的意图更加凸显。在《伤疤与梦想》、《又一处废墟》、《一道伤口是修复的前奏》等作品中，艺术家通过剪纸、刻划、以及镜面反射和水流的流动与自己的自拍肖像结合在一起，隐喻身份认同的挣扎和以及脆弱与重建的可能性。自拍肖像超越自我记录的范畴，成为一面诚实的镜子，反射出创伤的可见与不可见、遮蔽与显露。艺术家以近乎现象学的方式，将创作行为本身转化为一种自我解读的仪式。这不是在描述伤口，而是在进行操作，用视觉的语法解剖创伤的结构性存在，并试图在断裂处搭建意义的桥梁。这些作品共同构成一种否定的辩证：唯有通过直视破碎之物，才能抵达真实；唯有承认废墟，重建才具有精神性。

在展览的末尾，《双重见证》（2020）是梦钰驻留巴黎期间创作的二十封影像书信。艺术家以通灵般的执念，重走作家邱妙津生命最后的巴黎轨迹。通过地理与时间的精密重合，他将自己的身体与生命经验转化为媒介，成为邱妙津在年龄、族裔、情感与性别认同上的当代镜像。在持续的行为中，艺术家的现实逐渐与小说中的心碎、背叛与激情交织重叠，最终模糊了生存与创作、自我与他者的边界。借时空的错位连接起酷儿消隐的历史，成为对“酷儿幽灵性”的一次深切悼念与召唤。

作为第一代澳大利亚华裔和酷儿艺术家，梦钰的作品根植于交错的文化语境和身份认同，通过这些作品，将文化错位、性别越界与情感创伤转化为一种诗性的抵抗语言，并不断试图勾勒出一个在镜像、幽灵与废墟之间不断流变、挣扎与重生的内在世界。

● 文｜李子健

Three Shadows Website: here