nostalgia is the ghost of care

a solo exhibition by huiyin zhou 徽音

CURATORIAL / EXHIBITION STATEMENT

Nostalgia often denotes a past tense: a sense of sentimental or wistful longing for things, memories, and objects that are already gone. But for huiyin, nostalgia rests in the future: they archive and rescue moments as they are happening, predicting the grief that will come after they disappear. Beyond an irrecoverable loss, how can nostalgia’s tender teachings enable us to recognize the uniqueness of each moment while it is still here? Weaving photo prints, polaroids, handwriting, and other ephemera, this body of work draws from the artist’s daily encounters in BIPOC/Queer communities. Rooted in queer and feminist sensibilities, nostalgia is the ghost of care explores photo archiving as an active form of grief and care work. It provides a memory sanctuary amidst the hauntings of loss, erasure, and structural violence. 

Instagram @huiyin.zhou / huiyinzhou.com

Note: the title is inspired by Andy J. Pizza’s comic on nostalgia and gratitude in the Invisible Things project.