Xiao Lu’s Against the Wind in Hong Kong: waves, red structures and a 15-part photographic sequence
10 Chancery Lane Gallery’s 25th-anniversary show runs until January 16, 2027, connecting photography, a chronology and video. The October 22 performance and October 24 talk have ended; Sundays are closed.
How can an action that has already happened continue to be read through photographs and video? For its 25th-anniversary exhibition, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery looks back at Xiao Lu’s practice in Against the Wind, running from October 22, 2026 to January 16, 2027. A chronology, Tides, Skew, 15 Gunshots….from 1989 to 2003 and performance videos open questions of body, memory and autonomy across different periods. The gallery closes on Sundays, so it is not open today, October 25.
Read the works as a series of actions, not only photographs
Born in Hangzhou in 1962, Xiao Lu graduated from the oil painting department of the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1988. Her 1989 installation and performance Dialogue made her a widely discussed figure in Chinese contemporary art. This exhibition does not stop at a single incident: photographs, video and a chronology show her continuing engagement with public and private life, bodily autonomy and women’s voices. Read those contexts before returning to the specific actions in the works.
For example, the official checklist identifies Skew–1 and Skew–2, both from 2019, as photographs. Each image measures 78 by 130 cm, or 86 by 138 cm framed. Photography presents a particular moment left by a performance. Seeing black clothing, a tilted red space and traces of water still requires distinguishing a frozen image from the time in which events unfolded. A photograph can preserve posture and spatial relationships without automatically explaining the whole process.
Wall text and Skew photographs connect the artistic context with the images.
How do red, waves and repetition link different years?
In the installation photographs, images associated with Skew and Tides occupy neighbouring walls: one side shows a body in a red geometric structure, the other a figure in red with ocean waves. The two Tides photographs on the checklist also date from 2019, each 77 by 120 cm, or 85 by 128 cm framed. Compare the figure’s scale against external forces, then look at how red directs attention in different settings. That offers more than treating the groups as merely similar in colour.
On another wall, 15 Gunshots….from 1989 to 2003 is a 2003 photographic work comprising 15 pieces, each listed at 100 by 45 cm. Continuous hanging turns individual images into a sequence that asks viewers to move, while the figure and background gradually fade through changes in tone. Compare earlier and later images and how the corner alters the reading rhythm. This is a visual observation of official installation photographs, rather than an invented account of a new live performance.
15 Gunshots….from 1989 to 2003 continues along the wall and around the corner.
The exhibition continues; the opening performance and talk have ended
The gallery frames the exhibition as a long-term exploration of identity, autonomy and survival. Director Katie de Tilly particularly emphasises the artist’s conviction and persistence in facing difficulty. The October 22 opening performance and the artist talk at 11:30 on October 24 have both ended. During the remaining run, visitors can revisit the works through the chronology, photographs and videos, without assuming those earlier programmes repeat every day.
The gallery is at G/F, 10 Chancery Lane, SoHo, Central, Hong Kong. Hours are Monday to Friday 10:00–18:00 and Saturday 11:00–17:00, with Sunday and public-holiday closure. Check the official exhibition page before visiting. For viewers who regularly look at photography or moving-image art, one question is worth carrying away: once the action has ended, how do scale, sequence and text on an exhibition wall reshape our understanding of it?
