LIGHT, HEAT, POWER. 2025 

In 1843, following the Treaty of Nanking, imposed after Britain’s victory in the First Opium War, Shanghai was forcibly opened to foreign trade and carved into a patchwork of colonial concessions. As the Western Industrial Revolution progressed, driven by the energies of Light, Heat, and Power, by the early 20th century Shanghai had become the most symbolic metropolis of modernity. Mao Dun had opened his novel Midnight with the description of Shanghai: “On top of the Western-style buildings, an enormous neon advertisement blazed like fire: LIGHT, HEAT, POWER.” In 2025, the artist wrote these three words in an abandoned and unfinished building in Shanghai by using long exposure.