The ocean links every continent and island on the planet. It carried the ancient Maritime Silk Road, and later bridged the “Old Word” and the “New World” during the Age of Discovery. As a route of migration and cultural exchange, it has long enabled encounters and integrations of thought and civilization. It bears both the dreams of migrants heading toward distant horizons and their longing for home, shaping countless cultural and artistic achievements across history.Looking back at previous editions—from the third, Southbound to Nanyang, to the fifth, To the Continent of Europe, and the sixth, Rush to Gold Mountain—this seventh edition, Where The Sea Reaches, extends those trajectories. It foregrounds the ocean’s role as a “bridge” and “passage” in today’s globalized world and highlights the connections and shared identity of Chinese communities worldwide. For decades, immigrant art has often been positioned at the “margins” of art history. Yet, with the recent “migrant turn” in the social sciences, questions of mobility, cultural exchange, and social integration have become central. Art, as a mirror of its time, not only reflects pressing issues of identity and belonging but also reveals overlooked histories and imagines futures of plural coexistence.
This year’s exhibition brings together ten artists who have long lived in Ireland, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Australia. Through painting, watercolor, acrylic, photography, video, archival work, and installation, they share perspectives shaped by cross-cultural experience. Collectively, their works suggest that Chinese culture, like seawater, flows across the globe, touching every shore. Like water, it remains fluid, diverse, and inclusive, sustaining itself through constant migration and exchange.
The exhibition also launches a special Young Chinese Artists Residency Project, inviting five artists from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands to spend a month living and working in Shenzhen. Their site-responsive works, rooted in the city’s unique local context, further emphasize the exhibition’s openness and grounding. They reaffirm its mission: to establish the exhibition project as a platform for connecting Chinese artists worldwide.
01 对记忆的修复 The Remediation of Memory
生活在海外的华人艺术家，将文化记忆作为创作对象，通过对过去的追寻、阐释完成自我在异环境中的身份建构。艺术如同一种修复剂，艺术家用以粘合与祖/母籍国之间的关系以确立自我在两个甚至不同时间之间的独特价值。从艺术家创作的情况看，它无法被规范，更不是单向度的，而是与他们每个人在新的全球化情境中、在与其他族群移民相对照后的审视。以自己为方法，展现了以新世界为目的的华人创造力。
Chinese artists living overseas often take cultural memory as their creative subject, engaging in the interpretation and pursuit of the past to construct their identity within foreign environments. Art functions as a remediating agent — a means for these artists to bridge their relationship with their ancestral homeland, thereby affirming their unique value across two or even multiple temporal and spatial dimensions. As reflected in their creative practices, this process is neither uniform nor unidirectional. Instead, it involves continuous self-examination within new global contexts and in dialogue with other immigrant communities. Using the self as a method, these artists exemplify a form of Chinese creativity oriented toward the new world.
蔡冲 欧林达——看不见的城市系列112×140cm 亚麻布面丙烯、墨水与色粉 2020年
龚颖颖 迷失于过渡期伦敦—上海数码摄影 尺寸可变 2012-2014
李昶 域界图景照片、纺织物、铅笔画、复古笔记本、地图别针
世界地图集的剪裁、便利贴贴纸和丝网印刷
55×70cm 2024
杨越乔 编号213/926综合媒材 尺寸可变 2022至今
周怡君 徘徊之境， 51.9244° N, 4.4777° E，鹿特丹
摄影 60×90 cm 2023
02 混生生活中的图像Images in Hybrid Living
海外华人艺术家从文化母体进入到一个新的环境中，在各个方面都必须面对新生活中的新问题。一个值得注意的新现象是，社会学等方法的介入、当代艺术理论观念以及中国与世界的关系变化，都使在对待自己的问题上更加坦然、自信。在放弃了被设定的悲情叙事之后，海外华人艺术家自由地调动不同的经验、情感资源处理艺术史、地方景观中的问题，进而与今日世界景观的营造真实地联系在一起。故乡故土不再是与他者划界的工具，而是在新世界进行图像创造的原力。
Chinese diaspora artists, having moved from their cultural matrix into new environments, must confront novel challenges across all aspects of their lives. A noteworthy emerging phenomenon is the intervention of sociological methodologies, evolving conceptions in contemporary art theory, and shifting dynamics between China and the world—all contributing to a more poised and self-assured approach to self-representation. Having moved beyond predetermined narratives of victimhood, these artists now freely draw upon diverse experiences and emotional resources to engage with issues in art history and local landscapes. Through this process, they become authentically connected to the construction of today’s global landscape. Their ancestral homeland is no longer merely a tool for demarcation from the “other,” but rather a creative source for image-making within the new world.
杜京泽 梵高割耳后的自画像
布面油彩 120×120cm 2025
刘翠峰 暴风雨前的波西托斯海滩—蒙得维的亚50×65cm 纸本水彩
翁唯 世界之窗摄于深圳 59.4×84.1cm 2011
郑安东 名与支脉1摄影 尺寸可变 2022-至今
03 海外华人青年艺术家驻地计划Special Program: Residency for
Overseas Chinese Emerging Artists
《从海洋出发——海外华人青年艺术家驻地项目》作为《有海水的地方——第七届海外华人艺术家文化精品展》的特别项目，邀请到了五位长期旅居于澳大利亚、荷兰、英国、加拿大等地的海外华人青年艺术家——翁唯、龚颖颖、姚多金、易梦原和曹硕（八卦艺术家协会）。他们自2025年7月8日起，在深圳进行为期一个月的艺术驻地项目。以兼具历史底蕴和烟火气息的南头古城为据点，他们走进城市肌理，深入感受深圳这座城市的生命力，并探访台山、江门和潮汕等侨乡，多角度梳理侨民历史脉络。在项目尾声，艺术家们交出了极具在地性与创造性的艺术成果。该项目的相关文献图像资料作为本次展览的重要组成部分，向观众呈现出五位艺术家对深圳及周边侨乡城市的风土人情及文化多样性的深刻思考。
As a special program of Where There is Seawater — The 7th Exhibition of Cultural Masterpieces by Overseas Chinese Artists, the inaugural edition of From the Ocean — Residency Program for Young Overseas Chinese Artists was successfully launched this year. We invited five overseas Chinese artists who have been living in Australia, the Netherlands, the UK, and Canada: Weng Wei, Jessie Yingying Gong, Charlotte Yao, Sean Cao & Katharine Meng-Yuan Yi (Bagua Artist Association). From July 8, 2025, they embarked on a one-month residency program in Shenzhen. Using Nantou Ancient City, with its historical depth and everyday vibrancy, as their base, they immersed themselves in the city’s fabric, explored the vitality of Shenzhen, and visited overseas Chinese hometowns such as Taishan, Jiangmen, and Chaoshan to trace the history of overseas Chinese from multiple perspectives. At the end of the project, the artists presented highly site-specific and creative works. The related documentation and visual materials form an important part of this exhibition, offering audiences deep insights into the cultural diversity and human geography of Shenzhen and its surrounding regions.
