Dazhi and the Strength Born from Pain

Dazhi and the Strength Born from Pain
#Exhibitions
Dazhi, Chronic Pain, 2025, Pencil, colored pencil, pastel, oil pastel, oil on paper, calico, printed material, mounted on aluminum panel, 76.3 × 103 cm

There is a moment, standing before Dazhi’s works, when one senses entry into a realm that is no longer just about art, but about an inner form of resistance. It is an invitation to follow a path where pain becomes a threshold rather than a limit. Her practice emerges from the abrupt onset of chronic pain, which transformed her body and her perception of the world. In response, the artist has developed a method that interweaves destruction and reconstruction: torn drawings, fragments, canvases crossed by dark streaks that translate suffering into a new visual lexicon. In parallel, the cycle dedicated to “rehabilitation” explores the attempt to realign consciousness and memory. Dazhi builds transitional spaces - caves, hollows, ascending stairways - that function as inner passages between order and chaos. Time appears not as a linear sequence but as an energetic flow, staged in the dialogue between her child-self and adult-self. Embroidery and textiles introduce a delicate strength, a grammar of care that softens the brutality of experience. What emerges is not an idea of invincible strength, but a vitality that coexists with fragility. It is here that Dazhi’s work finds its center: reminding us that from wounds a new space for rebirth can emerge.
Viola Canova - © 2025 ARTE.it for Bvlgari Hotel Beijing