Zihan Gao

D begins with an exploration of separation anxiety, tracing the fragile boundaries between the self, memory, body, and time. The letter “D” stands not only for Distance but also extends to Detach, Dissolve, Drift, Disperse, Dawn, Develop, and Dream. It is also the initial of someone I once found impossible to separate from—anchoring the work between personal emotion and shared human experience.

Through intimate close-ups of the human body, the work reflects on the delicate dialogue between light and shadow—light revealing what longs to be remembered, shadow concealing what quietly fades. Together, they form a visual language of memory, oscillating between presence and absence, revelation and erasure.

Some images are transferred onto candle surfaces through Polaroid emulsion-lift techniques. These candles were once lit, melted, and reshaped during the making process but remain unlit in the exhibition space—preserving the traces of what has already been consumed. The melted textures, fractured surfaces, and embedded images make the act of separation tangible, turning the residue of heat and transformation into quiet witnesses of memory’s reconstruction.

Within this lingering light, D becomes more than a meditation on distance and disappearance. It transforms into a gentle ritual of farewell—a space where loss is neither denied nor forgotten, but continues to live on, dissolving and reborn within the warmth that remains.