Xuan-Hui Ng: A Gracious Breath

1 December 2023 - 15 February 2024

  • Xuan-Hui Ng

    Foto Relevance is pleased to present A Gracious Breath, an online exhibition of works by Xuan-Hui Ng. The Singaporean, Tokyo-based artist's serendipitous landscapes capture transient moments of beauty within the vastness of nature. Photographed largely in Hokkaido, Nagano, and Aomori, Japan, the landscapes featured in this exhibition focus on the enchanting nature of winter, with its snow-capped mountains and quiet forests. Ng’s work brings us closer to nature, allows us to bathe in its stillness for a moment, and reminds us of the beauty in all things delicate and fierce.

    A Gracious Breath will be on view online from December 1, 2023 through February 15th, 2024. This exhibition is concurrent with Ng’s solo show at The Griffin Museum of Photography: Transcendence: Awakening the Soul.
  • "My first trip to Hokkaido was during winter as a child.  I was enchanted by its snow-capped mountains and quiet winter forests.  The profound impression of this place stayed with me into adulthood, and I longed to return.  Now when I visit, it conjures a nostalgia for those childhood memories."

     

  • 'The scenes I photograph are set in Hokkaido, Nagano and Aomori, Japan. Each of these locations are very different but...
    The Sound of Snow #22, 2023

    "The scenes I photograph are set in Hokkaido, Nagano and Aomori, Japan. Each of these locations are very different but united by their extreme natural beauty. In Hokkaido, for example, I have witnessed “diamond dust” and “sun pillars”, which are ice crystals that form in the air when temperatures plunge below about 3 degrees Fahrenheit. In Aomori and Nagano, I have photographed the numerous cherry blossom varieties, which symbolize the concept of “mono no awa-re”. It speaks to the impermanence of life, and recognizes that it is precisely the transient nature of life that makes us treasure our encounters more deeply.

     

    When I photograph, I am drawn to intense moments at daybreak or during snowstorms. Each season reflects unexpected or surprising instances when the ordinary becomes extraordinary. There are minute, spectacular changes that continue to bewitch me.

     

    My photographs are single-exposure images made in camera. I state this because it is my aim to record and show the natural wonders that nature offers – not to post-produce something that never happened. What gives me the thrill is looking for beauty in the mundane and also chancing upon otherworldly scenes.

     

    Now more than ever, we need to alleviate the stress in our lives and heal. Studies show that nature, or even images of nature, can provide symptom relief, lower stress levels, and reduce depression and anxiety. I hope these photographs of the natural world provide a brief reprieve from life’s harsh realities, by reminding us of the beauty in all things delicate and fierce."

     

    — Xuan-Hui Ng

  • "my mind clears, my heart rate slows and my smiles return..."

  • ABOUT THE ARTIST Xuan-Hui Ng is a photographic artist from Singapore who currently resides in Japan. Her work is represented...
    Image by Zan Zeller

    ABOUT THE ARTIST

     

    Xuan-Hui Ng is a photographic artist from Singapore who currently resides in Japan. Her work is represented by Foto Relevance gallery in Houston, Texas, with her debut solo show Interludes in 2021. Her solo exhibition, Transcendence: Awakening the Soul, at the Griffin Museum of Photography will take place in December 2023.

     

    Ng has been a Critical Mass Finalist in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Her work has been juried into exhibitions at the Davis Orton Gallery, Southeast Center for Photography, Texas Photographic Society, New York Center for Photographic Art, and Fotonostrum’s 17th and 18th Pollux Awards. She is the winner of both series and single image in the Nature category at the 20th Julia Margaret Cameron Award. She has been an artist lecturer at the Griffin Museum of Photography, Nobechi Creative, Artquest Photo Workshops and various camera clubs. Publications of her work have been featured in What Will You Remember?, fotoMAGAZIN, PetaPixel, ON landscape, forum naturfotografie, Dodho Magazine, CURIOUS Photo blog, Float Magazine, Feature Shoot and Popular Photography (大众摄影）.

     

    In 2022, she was interviewed by BBC World Service’s Cultural Frontline on “Creativity and Mental Health.” She is a contributor to ELEMENTS landscape photography magazine and an instructor for Santa Fe Workshops.

     

    She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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