Ding Zhi: Small Heroes Searching for Their Place

How can you find your place in a world whose rules you do not fully understand? In Honey, Ding Zhi’s first solo exhibition at Capsule, the answer unfolds through humorous, seemingly innocent characters who populate her recent oil paintings on canvas and wood. Among them is Xiao Ming, a name commonly used in China to represent an ordinary boy, a kind of “everyman”. He observes, hides, disguises himself and embarks on unlikely missions using the simplest of means: a pair of scissors can become a sword, a mosquito escapes triumphantly after drinking its fill of blood, while a tiger costume offers, for a moment, the illusion of strength. Ding Zhi borrows the immediate visual language of picture books, comic strips and popular culture to explore something distinctly adult. Behind the humour and tenderness of her images lies a reflection on identity and power: her small heroes attempt to navigate systems that were not designed for them, inventing strategies, illusions and disguises in order to take part in the game without losing themselves.