Evian Wenyi Zhang: 化身 (huàshēn)

Evian Wenyi Zhang presents “化身 (huàshēn)” — translated as “incarnation” or “embodiment” — her first solo exhibition at Galeria Pedro Cera and debut in Portugal. The exhibition introduces a new body of work exploring the politics of appearance through Zhang’s grid-based methodology of reading and reconstructing images.

Drawing from online archives of “Asian” artefacts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Zhang reorganises these materials into paintings and sculptures that question the circulation, classification, and museological framing of non-Western objects. Her systematic process combines analytical and sensory approaches, producing visual structures that merge digital appropriation with traditional Chinese techniques such as the use of negative space.

Each work retains the original titles of the referenced artefacts, emphasising their cultural displacement and transformation. In “化身 (huàshēn)”, Zhang investigates how images and objects shift meaning through processes of translation, perception, and recontextualisation, creating a dialogue between historical collections and contemporary artistic practice.