✦ Shou-An Chiang ✦
is part of Strategy of Gestures / Analog Practice Exhibition at
@hippolytegallery 4.4.–3.5.2026
Curated by Clément Beraud
@clementberaud & Natalia Kopkina
@apartofawhole
Shou-An Chiang
@shouanfoto is a Taiwanese multidisciplinary visual artist based in London, whose practice explores the nuanced terrain of relationships and identity through photography, video, performance, installation, and writing.
The Unfurling Plantation 2025
silver gelatin prints developed with tea-based developers
“This project stems from a profound personal connection to my family’s heritage and my late grandfather’s life on Lala Mountain. He spent years farming there, cultivating a tea plantation on a mountain slope. In his later years, as he battled dementia, he was brought down the mountain for care. During that time, he seemed lost in a fog – struggling, frightened, angry, and confused, often stumbling, until he gradually surrendered, like being endlessly adrift in a dream.
After his passing, the tea garden became overgrown, and its commercial value was lost. Only recently, after navigating our grief, my parents and I began to reclaim the garden. This effort is about physical renewal and a way to honour my grandfather’s memory. Simultaneously, I started exploring how this land, steeped in family history, could be transformed into art.
We harvest these wild, overgrown tea leaves from the mountain and process them using the simplest methods. I then brew these teas into infusions, meticulously formulating them into photographic developers for black and white film and prints. This hands-on exploration involves rigorous experimentation with various tea varieties and brewing techniques, carefully documenting each developing result.
📸
1,6,7. Process images
2-5. The Unfurling Plantation photographic series
8. Portrait of the Shou-An Chiang
9. Poster of the exhibition by
@hikanishida
(Credits: Shou-An Chiang and Helsinki Analog Festival
@danieljamescourt )
