
Li Hei Di
Tongues of Flare
May 29 – Aug 29, 2025
Hong Kong
Born in Shenyang, China in 1997, Li, who currently lives and works in London, is known for their explorations of human embodiment, displacement, and intimacy in luminous paintings that blend abstraction and figuration. In their vibrant, dreamlike canvases—where ghostly, translucent bodies and body parts pulsate in and out of view amid abstract forms and washes of color—Li embeds latent narratives about gender, repressed and fulfilled desire, and emotional fluidity for viewers to uncover and decipher. Primarily a painter, they also work across sculpture and performance, mediums that complement their otherworldly canvases.
Films
Across the River: Li Hei Di’s Painted Explorations of Selfhood
A lyrical new text that Li Hei Di has written for their show accompanies this footage of the artist at work on new paintings, offering a glimpse of their process and inspirations. “I think about the experience of crossing a river,” Li writes. “I imagine most people want to swim quickly to the other side, but I find myself paddling in the middle, pulled and stretched by both fear and euphoria.”

Detail of Li Hei Di, Gapes at the vanity of toil (把肉身里的白压住厌倦这人生粉扬的事态), 2025 © Li Hei Di
One night on a walk, she pointed toward the naked legs of a eucalyptus tree and said, “I keep thinking about that theory from The Vegetarian—that trees are actually growing upside down. Do you see that? Like, they’re grabbing and eating nutrients from underground with their hands. And then they’re exposing their genitals up in the air—their hermaphroditic genitals, touching and brushing against one another.”
I close my eyes. I think about the experience of crossing a river. I imagine most people want to swim quickly to the other side, but I find myself paddling in the middle, pulled and stretched by both fear and euphoria. I stay in the river, constantly eyeing the shores, afraid I won’t have the strength to reach either end. I keep paddling, gasping for air—sometimes, in panic, I see parts of my body being swallowed, then spat back out, over and over again.
In fear, I open my eyes. I see shadows of concrete, an urban city built on pure practicality, penetrating through my visions. It makes me question the legitimacy of “me,” the self, and even the legitimacy of this water that holds me, this plot of nature growing vigorously inside my chest.
Featured Works
Wild Sumac in Early Autumn (初秋的野苏木)
2025
Gapes at the vanity of toil (把肉身里的白压住厌倦这人生粉扬的事态)
2025
We're Already Baptised (已被洗礼)
2025
Time roar in my ears like a river (时间在我耳窝咆哮如河流)
2025
Details of October grass (十月细碎的草)
2025
hug (拥抱)
2025

Detail of Li Hei Di, Time roar in my ears like a river (时间在我耳窝咆哮如河流), 2025 © Li Hei Di
EXHIBITION DETAILS
Li Hei Di
Tongues of Flare
May 29 – Aug 29, 2025
GALLERY
12/F, H Queen's
80 Queen's Road Central
Hong Kong