SOFT POWER
Group Exhibition
26 February — 3 March
Paris
Curated by HanYue
Sol de Paris
17 rue Chapon
75003 Paris, France
Exhibition Introduction
Soft Power brings together a group of emerging international artists whose practices unfold across painting, moving image, installation, and sound. The exhibition reflects on forms of subtle force—those that operate beneath visibility, shaping perception, identity, and emotional experience.
Rather than direct confrontation, the works engage with softness as a mode of influence: a quiet yet persistent force that permeates the body, memory, and environment. Through gestures of fragility, intuition, and embodied sensitivity, the artists construct spaces where power is not imposed, but diffused, absorbed, and transformed.
Across the exhibition, the body appears as a central site of negotiation. It is at once vulnerable and resistant, shaped by cultural structures, gendered expectations, and personal histories. Whether through tactile materials, immersive sound, or fragmented moving images, each work reveals how subjectivity is continuously reconfigured through lived experience.
At the same time, the exhibition gestures toward alternative modes of being—spaces of retreat, imagination, and inner reconstruction. From ecofeminist reflections to intuitive abstraction and therapeutic practices, Soft Power proposes a redefinition of strength: one that emerges through sensitivity, fluidity, and the capacity to remain open.
Artists
Bahar Talebi Najafabadi
Doupu
Jingyun Guan
Tong Niu
Xiaobin Zhang
Xilichen Hua
Ziwen Li
Yurui Fan
Selected Artworks
Peach Blossom Island
Artist
Tong Niu
Year
2025
Medium
Moving Image
Dimensions
1920 × 1080
Description
Peach Blossom Island reflects on the paradox of freedom within contemporary social structures. While individuals long for autonomy, they remain entangled in systems that produce isolation and unease.
Drawing on the Japanese therapeutic practice Otona Maki, the work uses the act of wrapping the body as both a physical and symbolic gesture. Within this contained space, the body returns to a state of stillness and pre-verbal awareness.
The work proposes a temporary withdrawal from external structures, creating a meditative space where the viewer may encounter a quieter, internal form of freedom.
Self-Gaze
Artist
Xilichen Hua
Year
2026
Medium
Single-channel Video
Duration
5 min 5 s
Description
Self-Gaze explores bodily autonomy and self-awareness through an ecofeminist lens. Situating the female body within natural and surreal environments, the work constructs a fluid space between reality and imagination.
Through the interaction of digital bodies, biomimetic materials, and light-sensitive environments, the body re-establishes its relationship with nature. Acts of touching, walking, and pausing become gestures of resistance and reconfiguration.
The work reflects a gradual release from imposed structures, allowing new understandings of perception, subjectivity, and self-boundaries to emerge.
April’s Eyes
Artist
Ziwen Li
Year
2024
Medium
Chiffon print, photography, soft pastel, poetry
Dimensions
20 × 30 cm each
Description
April’s Eyes unfolds as a poetic reflection on memory, time, and emotional continuity. Combining text and image, the work evokes a quiet narrative of everyday life—where fleeting moments become sites of meaning.
Through fragmented language and sensory imagery, the work suggests a form of perception that is intuitive rather than linear. Memory appears not as a fixed archive, but as a shifting emotional landscape.
Gilded
Artist
Fan Yurui
Year
2025
Medium
Scraping Painting on Silver Powder Base
Dimensions
20 × 20 cm
Description
Inspired by traditional Chinese silk fabrics, the piece is realized through repeated layers of white reserve and scraping on a silver powder base, integrating the delicate texture of Eastern textiles with contemporary abstract language.
Vertical streaks of blue, purple, red, and gold interweave like silk threads, while the silver powder base shimmers with a subtle luster, echoing the luxurious texture of silk and imbuing the color layers with a hazy, breathing quality. The vertical brushstrokes and scraped marks mimic the tension of draped fabric, allowing colors to collide in a way that preserves the subtle rhythm of Eastern aesthetics while unleashing the expressive freedom of abstraction.
This gentle yet resilient visual expression perfectly embodies the core concept of Soft Power: "Vulnerability, tenderness, and sensitivity are not weaknesses, but forms of strength—quiet, subtle, and deeply transformative." It revives traditional materials in a contemporary context, serving as a visual medium connecting Eastern poetry with the soft power of feminine experience.
Selected Artist Highlights
Bahar Talebi Najafabadi
A visual artist from Isfahan, Iran, currently based in London. Her practice explores the identities and lived experiences of women navigating social constraints. Through tactile painting processes, she constructs images that reflect resilience, complexity, and transformation.
Jingyun Guan
A London-based artist working across painting, performance, and installation. Her work investigates personal mythology, feminist narratives, and queer identity through soft yet tension-filled materials such as wax, textiles, and silicone.
Doupu
A young artist whose practice is grounded in intuition, sensory perception, and a deep connection to nature. Working across abstraction and surrealism, Doupu explores energy, consciousness, and the fluid relationship between body and environment.
Ziwen Li
An artist working between painting, sculpture, and installation. Her practice engages with fragility, emotional memory, and the “third space” between subconscious and reality, often informed by themes of intimacy, care, and psychological experience.
