Soh Souen at WKM until October 31: pastel skin, a fragile egg and the distance between bodies

In the final week of Soh Souen’s My tender passion, tender patience at Hong Kong’s WKM Gallery, a small question offers a way in: how do we understand a person when a picture shows only an eyelid, lips, a collarbone or the edge of clothing? On view until October 31, 2026, the Japanese artist’s first Hong Kong solo exhibition combines the pastel series Again and Again with performance archives and collaborative video. Instead of introducing identities through full portraits, it begins with fragments, touch and breath.

Why does a row of small paintings slow us down?

Artist-supplied installation photographs show small works running horizontally along a white wall, with generous gaps between them. Eyes, mouths and skin are encountered separately; walking between them creates a viewing sequence of one’s own. They are not pieces of an identity photograph awaiting reconstruction. Elsewhere, a closed-eye image hangs alone on a corner wall beside windows and a passageway. The light and route offer another pause. These observations come from official photographs, rather than a TIDEZINE visit.

Souen makes Again and Again in pastel, working through direct contact between hands and surface to depict skin, clothing and adornments close to the body. Pastel is more than a soft palette: particles, rubbing and surface texture matter too. An image of a collarbone and fine necklace places broad warm tones beside a thin metallic line. Colour and edges register before the body becomes recognisable. That changing distance deserves attention before asking simply whether the picture looks realistic.

From a painted surface to an egg that must not fall

The exhibition presents Eggsercise through archival video. This performance places a raw egg in a bodily hollow or between the performer and another body, a wall or furniture. Slow movements keep it from dropping. The rule is simple, but gives weight to every adjustment: protecting something fragile changes how a body relates to its surroundings. First presented in 2022, the work has continued in different versions. An archive screening does not mean a live performance takes place every day before the exhibition closes.

The video N: 20.04.26–04.05.26 was made with a Kyiv resident using the pseudonym N and filmed at Babyn Yar. The gallery connects air and breathing with memories of place and experiences that cannot fully be spoken. Viewers need not invent a confession for the person on screen. Installation photographs show a monitor, pink curtains, seating and an adjacent painting establishing another pace, inviting time with the moving image. Subtitles visible on the monitor belong to the work being screened, rather than an added photographic watermark.

Planning the last few days

WKM Gallery is on the 20th floor of Coda Designer Centre, 62 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Hong Kong. Hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 11am–7pm; it closes on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays. The September 5 opening reception has already taken place. The artist’s attendance then should not be read as a meeting programme for October 28–31. Check temporary changes or display arrangements through the gallery exhibition page or +852-2866-3199. The available information does not specify an admission price; no fee or booking rule is inferred here.

Try two viewing distances: step back to see how the works occupy walls, windows and video areas, then move closer to consider how pastel makes a small stretch of skin into a picture. Recognisable details lead towards experiences that resist a single explanation. Souen extends looking into a relationship requiring patience. Before the October 31 close, confirm opening times and allow room for the videos: that offers more of the connections between media than seeking only one signature image to photograph.