Mid-summer Show 仲夏展 [jing 境 ] Daphne Alexis HO Photography Solo Exhibition 何居怡攝影個展 5 - 20.7.2025

SOIL Discover
Jun 13
8 min read

Updated: Jun 17

Meet the Artist session 藝術家在廊*:

Join artist Daphne Alexis Ho 何居怡 for a walkthrough tour in her exhibition, as she reflects on her photography work and practice.

5.7.2025 3pm - 5:30pm

Language: Cantonese / English

* Please RSVP via this online form. An acknowledgement will be sent to confirm your reservation. We look forward to your presence.

如有意參加，請填妥網上表格登記。

This is a Free-of-Charge event. 費用全免

Join Us Now 報名留座

Exhibition Dates & Opening Hours 展期

5 - 20.7.2025

Tue - Sat 12-6pm 星期二至星期六

Sun & Mon by Appointment only 星期日及星期一只接受預約參觀.

( Please call 請致電 9559 3908 或 or WhatsApp)

Venue 地點

The Gallery by SOIL

Shop 102, 1/F, Barrack Block, Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong

香港中環荷李活道10號大館營房大樓一樓102店

jing 境 Artist Statement

My artistic practice has evolved substantially over the past few years. During covid, I felt the urge to photograph but the resulting images felt distanced, almost as if I was a third person making a record of what I saw. Since then, I feel capturing the figurative landscape is no longer enough and I turned inwards to contemplate upon photography and art – “Why should one take photographs? Why should one create art?” and I felt an urge to express my inner landscape.

For me, the inner landscape represents my soul and beliefs. Nature is my constant source of inspiration— whether it is the transitions of the four seasons, the slow transformations evident in rock formations, or the ephemeral interplay of light and shadow as I explore ideas of impermanence. As I approach fifty, it suddenly dawned on me that the clock is ticking and ticking at a pace that I can barely catch up. The new series, jing, expresses my acknowledgement of life’s impermanence and the constant flux of change. As we grow, people change, things transform… I feel the urge to embrace each moment, and to fully inhabit the here and now, as every encounter is only once in a lifetime. In this series, I was drawn to capturing the changing states of water as one moment can be drastically different from the next.

In that particular moment, through the viewfinder, I see the world anew as I find peace, tranquility and quiet contemplation amidst these challenging times.

– Daphne Alexis Ho

境

在過去幾年中，我的創作之旅悄然轉變。疫情期間，雖然我對攝影仍充滿渴望，但所拍的照片總帶著一份疏離感，彷彿我只是旁觀者，冷漠地記錄著眼前的一切。隨著光陰流逝，我漸漸明白，捕捉外在的風景已無法再滿足我的心靈。我開始反思，心中暗叫：「為何要攝影？為何創作？」這份內心的渴望促使我探索更深的自我。

對我而言，內心的風景是靈魂的映照，是信念的結晶。大自然是我永恆的靈感源泉—— 四季的變遷、岩石的緩慢變化、光影的瞬息萬變，皆讓我思索生命的無常。光陰如梭，接近五十歲，歲月仿佛每一秒都在催促我珍惜當下。《境》這一系列作品，正是對生命無常與心境變化的吟唱。隨著成長，人心變幻，事物轉瞬即逝……我渴望擁抱每一刻，因為每次相遇都是獨特而珍貴的。在這個系列中，我專注於表現水的變化，因為一瞬之間，景象可以全然不同。

在取景器捕捉的那一刻，我走進另一個意境，縱然不安，卻尋找到內心的平靜與靜思。

何居怡

About Daphne Alexis HO 何居怡

Daphne Alexis Ho is a mixed media artist known for her monochromatic landscape work. Her depictions of nature are characterised by a strong and elegiac quality, the outcome of the artist’s focus on Japanese Zen aesthetics. Central to Ho’s work is the concept of impermanence, “mono no aware” (pathos of things) , and “ichigo ichie” (the unique nature of each moment). Capturing the emotional qualities of nature through the appropriation of light and shadows, movement and stillness, Ho’s work is also a testament to the Japanese concept of “ma” (a pause in time), and the liminal space that exists between physical representations and forms.

Born in Hong Kong in 1975, Daphne Alexis Ho studied fine art specialising in photography, and received her doctorate of philosophy at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, in 2018. Ho developed a distinctive style of black and white photography that breaks away from classical pictorial photographic styles. Drawing inspirations from traditional Chinese landscape paintings, shan shui (山水), Ho became intrigued by nature and the philosophical metaphors within landscapes– one which embraces landscape’s “spirit” dimension rather than fixating on its "physical" forms. As she continues to study the relationship between Zen aesthetics and contemporary photography, Ho has culminated in a collection of works that depicts the concept of Zen which inherently lies in nature.

In 2023, the artist started her series Tear, which explores the fragility of nature through the reinterpretation of “kintsugi,” accentuating the beauty of decay and transformation through the intentional acts of tearing, mending, and highlighting fault lines within the monochromatic works. Concurrently, Ho began an experimental series Splash where her performative act of ink splashes creates a heightened immediacy in response to her sentiment on the environmental damages that humans have imposed on nature. Departing from traditional Western views of photography as a medium of preservation and “truthful” representation, Daphne Alexis Ho’s work unveils a new “truth”, where the essence of nature and its emotional qualities are accentuated through aesthetic sensibilities beyond representational forms.

Daphne Alexis Ho’s works have been exhibited internationally including the Chinese Museum in Melbourne, Australia, the Independent Image and Art Space in Chongqing, China, and the University Museum and Art Gallery at The University of Hong Kong.

何居怡生於1975年現居香港從事創作，是一位多媒體藝術家，多年來以黑白風景作品見稱，透過多媒材實踐探索自然與存在的深層對話。她以純粹黑白為語言，在影像之中刻畫時間的流轉、自然的細語。光與影是她的詩行，在動與靜的對峙間，展現出靜謐的節奏；於形與無形的臨界處，她開啟觀者的內在感知，喚醒與自然共振的沉思空間。她的作品蘊藏日本美學中「間（ma）」的精神 —— 即時間與空間之間的留白與沉默，是一種容納呼吸與心念的空隙，也是一種詩意的停頓。她的創作如同一場靜默的對話，回應著「無常」的哲思、「物哀」的柔情與「一期一會」的珍貴 —— 每一幅作品都是一場專屬當下的心靈邂逅。

何居怡於澳洲皇家墨爾本理工大學修讀藝術專攻攝影，在2018年獲頒哲學博士學位。她自此開拓出一條獨樹一幟的黑白影像之路，遠離傳統攝影的繪畫式風格。她的視野轉向東方的山水精神，從古典山水畫中汲取靈感，不再著眼於景物的形體輪廓，而是深入自然的靈魂與氣韻。於景中觀心，於空間中聽靜，她以鏡頭捕捉自然的隱微與留白，構築出與世界對話的詩性語境。隨著她對禪意美學與當代表現形式的持續探尋，一系列作品應運而生──如溪流潤石般低語禪機，於寧靜之中展現自然所蘊的道理。她的創作，既是觀看，也是感悟；她的攝影超越了記錄，成為通往自然真如的微妙指引。 2023年何居怡展開創作系列〈撕裂Tear〉，如時間輕觸自然的脈絡，揭示那潛藏於靜默中的轉化與詩性。她借用日本傳統工藝金繼（kintsugi）之手法，透過撕裂、修補與凸顯裂痕，在黑白畫面中輕聲訴說：破碎本身，就是一種優雅的轉化。作品中的裂縫，不再是缺陷，而成為歲月與存在交織的詩行，使衰敗綻放出靜謐的光芒。與此同時，她開展實驗系列〈潑痕Splash〉，以潑墨為表演行動，在情感與紙面間迸發出一瞬即逝的激烈對話。每一次潑灑，皆為她對自然受創的感應之作，是對環境破壞的直觀迴響，也是對自然哀鳴的回聲。她的創作脫離攝影作為如實再現與保存外貌的慣常角色，而是引領觀者進入一種更深層的感知領域。在這裡「真」不只存在於形的複製之中，而是在於喚起自然精神與情感深處共鳴的那一刻。她所追尋的，是一種超越可見之物的真實感 —— 源自直覺與美感的體悟，使自然的靈性得以如實流露。

何居怡的作品曾於世界各地展出包括澳洲墨爾本的華人博物館、中國重慶的獨立影像藝術空間，以及香港大學美術博物館。

Curator's Words 策展人的話

All of nature is temporal - its silent withering, a transient beauty dwelling in perpetuality. Each moment is destined to pass. Contemplating on the ephemerality of life, a new body of work by artist Daphne Alexis Ho explores the concept of impermanence through nature. Moving away from the anthropocentric world into the natural world, jing 境 reveals the quiet potentials of our environment and our mind. As the complexities of life fall away, a potentiality for transcendence emerges.

Observing nature through varying states of water, the new series casts aside limitations of physical forms, broadening the definitions of "landscape" from traditional Western perspectives. jing 境 not only describes the realm of natural things, it also describes the realm of life experiences, and the realm of inner consciousness. The poetic assembly of works unveils not only the aesthetic sensibilities and emotional qualities of nature, but also conveys concepts that are beyond representational forms of objects and language.

森羅萬象，天地間的各種景象極爲豐富 — 青天白雲、花開葉落、露霧冰霜; 大自然千變萬化，卻簡單純粹。何居怡透過對大自然的沉思，體現內境與外物的細緻感受。多年鑽研日本美學，她的創作探討生命的無常、物哀、和一期一會等概念。作品系列展現大自然中蘊藏着不同的《境》，讓觀眾重新感受生命，化繁為簡。

「人生在世，諸事繁雜，心有所思，眼有所見，耳有所聞，必有所言」— 《古今和歌集 — <假名序> 》。遠離人類中心世界思想，《境》讓我們進入自然世界超脫世俗的精神境界。何居怡透過水的不同型態，突顯大自然瞬變的風景，傳達她對生命的感悟。《境》表達她自身與感知的親密關係，及對大自然的諦觀。她的作品充滿情感，觀眾可從虛實的意境中，感受生命的無常。

這系列的作品擺脫實體形態意象的限制，揭示萬物最自然本質，擴闊了傳統西方視野對「風景」的定義。「境」意味着內在與外在環境的不同狀態，包含自然事物的境界(物境)、人生經歷的境界(情境)、和內心意識的境界(意境)。由「意」到「境」，心物相感。

Curator 策展人

kuan mei 寬昧

Exhibition Highlights 展覽亮點

Visit our gallery. Contact for enquiry and purchase.

歡迎蒞臨藝廊參觀、查詢、收藏作品。

#1 Void ( I )

2025

B/W Archival Giclee Print on Photo Rag Metallic Fine Art Paper 340gsm

W122.5 x H82.5 cm

#6 Untitled

2025

B/W Archival Giclee Print on Photo Rag Metallic Fine Art Paper 340gsm

L38 x W38 x H30 cm

#7 Untitled

2025

B/W Archival Giclee Print on Photo Rag Metallic Fine Art Paper 340gsm

W92.5 x H62.5 cm

#9 Liu Bai ( II )

2025

B/W Archival Giclee Print on Photo Rag Metallic Fine Art Paper 340gsm

W102.5 x H69.2 cm

If you are interested in any of these art pieces and would like us to arrange a private viewing for you, please email to team@craftbysoil.com or WhatsApp 95593908.

若您對任何作品感興趣，而希望可安排私人會面時段，請電郵至 team@craftbysoil.com 或 WhatsApp 95593908 ，我們樂意為您服務。