Aranya Art Center North is pleased to present Paths Unseen, a solo exhibition by Chinese artist Vivien Zhang, featuring paintings, maquettes, and archival material based on butterfly map projections.
The butterfly is a frequently recurring motif in Vivien Zhang’s recent work. The shape originates from the butterfly projection method devised by Bernard J.S. Cahill in 1909. Due to its more accurate representation of land area, this octahedral map projection—which unfolds the Earth into the shape of a butterfly—is regarded as a visual solution that is more geopolitically neutral to regional politics and provides us with an alternative logic for understanding the world.
Map projections are often seen as “husks” of the Earth, while the butterfly’s skin carries a more profound metaphor: butterflies mimic each other’s patterns to evade predators, and some species undertake intergenerational migrations for survival and reproduction. The exhibition title, Paths Unseen, alludes to the ways in which migrations and assimilation within an individual’s history subtly shape behaviors and interpersonal relationships (the artist moved between multiple countries during her upbringing and is currently based in the United Kingdom). Drawing on the mimicry and migratory mechanisms of butterflies, this exhibition explores how individuals move through, adapt to, and assimilate within social structures, reflecting on contemporary issues such as identity formation, collective consensus, and strategies of survival.
This exhibition is organized by Assistant Curator Gao Liangjiao and Associate Curator Wu Yiyang at the Aranya Art Center.
Vivien Zhang
Born in 1990 in Beijing; lives and works in London.
Vivien Zhang received a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, London in 2012, and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London in 2014. Recent solo exhibitions include: Flat Earth, Pilar Corrias, London, UK (2024); undo undo undo, Pilar Corrias, London, UK (2022); Lorem Ipsum, Long March Space, Beijing, China (2021), etc. Recent group exhibitions include: Dream Screen, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2024); Chaque vie est une histoire, Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris (2024); Abstraction (re)creation – 20 under 40, Le Consortium, Dijon (2024); Boundless Reverie: Chinese Savoir-Faire and Contemporary Art, K11 Foundation, Hong Kong (2024); Barbe a Papa, CAPC Musée d’art Contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (2022); The Disconnected Generation, Song Art Museum, Beijing (2022), among many others. Vivien Zhang was the recipient of the Abbey Award 2016-17 at the British School at Rome.
