Dense enough to block the wind; sparse enough for a horse to gallop

Across four new works, Nicole Zhang turns to a series of Chinese proverbs spoken by her parents throughout her upbringing and into adulthood. These sayings—concise, practical reflections on life—become the conceptual framework for the paintings. Through a symbolic visual language populated by animals, flowers and domestic motifs, Zhang translates these fragments of inherited wisdom into images that feel at once personal and widely legible. The works stand as an homage to the formative influence of family, and to the enduring ways in which language, memory and identity continue to shape an artist’s imagination.

Nicole Zhang appears courtesy of CBD Gallery, Sydney.