“SHEN YUAN: JETLAG,” contemporary artist Shen Yuan’s first solo exhibition in South China, is now on view at the Sea World Culture and Arts Center in Shekou.

Featuring 15 installations and sculptures, the exhibition offers a comprehensive retrospective of the artistic career of one of the most important Chinese female contemporary artists.

Shen graduated from Zhejiang Academy of Art (now China Academy of Art) in 1982 with a background in Chinese painting, and later shifted her focus from traditional Chinese painting to installation and sculpture. In 1990, she moved to Paris with her husband, artist Huang Yong Ping. The seven-hour time difference between China and Paris has since prompted her sustained reflections on themes such as culture, identity, and spatial differences.

While many artists of her generation tended to focus on grand narratives, Shen showed an early interest in intimate experiences and marginalized issues, articulating a unique female perspective within avant-garde art. At the same time, her creations extended beyond personal expressions, often weaving together family memory and collective experience.

She excels at creating installations using everyday objects and has a preference for ephemeral and unconventional materials. Crochet, embroidery, hair, and shoes are frequently-used elements in her works.

The exhibition’s title, “JETLAG,” encapsulates recurring themes in Shen’s works — migration, identity and alienation, and intimate personal memories — as well as her trajectory as a female artist. Through this personal “journal,” viewers can discover how these reflections are transformed into art in a unique manner.

Among the exhibits are three new works specially created for the exhibition.

“Mold/Space,” a wooden mold bearing artistic traces of the Huang brothers, explores the theme of family memory; “Playing with Fire,” a giant comb with hair caught in its match-like teeth and lice crawling off from it, alludes to the shifting international geopolitical landscape; while “Urban Village” centers on Shenzhen’s unique urban development as a city of migrants in which each newcomer carries their own “jetlag.”

Dates: Through July 21

Venue: L1, Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Nanshan District (海上世界文化艺术中心L1滨海展馆)

Metro: Line 2 or 12 to Sea World Station (海上世界站), Exit A(Yu Yuanfan)