ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Xinan Yang Explores Distance and Domesticity in 'The First Letter Home in Spring'

exhibition · 2026-09-01

London-based painter Xinan Yang, who left Shanghai at twenty-four, examines the shifting concept of home in her latest exhibition, 'The First Letter Home in Spring'. Her works depict individuals in bedrooms, illuminated by screens, highlighting the coexistence of connection and loneliness. Yang draws on found photographs from personal archives and social media, stripping and rebuilding them through memory. Recurring motifs include beds, animals, and birds symbolizing migration. The exhibition reflects on how digital identities and domestic objects carry traces of presence and absence.

Key facts

  • Xinan Yang is a London-based painter originally from Shanghai.
  • Her latest exhibition is titled 'The First Letter Home in Spring'.
  • The exhibition explores the relationship between home, distance, and identity.
  • Yang's paintings often feature subjects in bedrooms with screens, highlighting connection and loneliness.
  • She uses found photographs from her own life, family, friends, and social media as source material.
  • Her process involves stripping details from original images and rebuilding them from memory.
  • Animals, particularly birds, recur in her work as symbols of migration and leaving.
  • The exhibition includes works such as 'The Letter Unsent'.

Entities

Artists

  • Xinan Yang

Locations

  • London
  • Shanghai

Sources