No One in the Crowd
The crowd moves.
No one arrives.
Everything functions,
but nothing breathes.
Metro Station 04, 地铁站 04
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2023
Interviewing
Zhihui Jiang
EST8: Why did you choose the subway station as a subject? Today, documentary-style works are everywhere—anyone with a phone or a camera can flatten reality into image.
Jiang: Much like the rise of AI, many image-makers have already been replaced. In technique, speed, and visual impact, the machine already surpasses. But when it comes to atmosphere, emotional weight, the meaning behind the image—those things still resist mechanical precision. Thankfully, they haven’t yet learned how to construct the emotional undercurrent of an image.
EST8: But why the subway station, specifically?
Jiang: Where I’m from, life is slow, relaxed, grounded. In Guangzhou—especially around subway entrances—each visit feels like being pushed into a fast-forwarded film sequence. No warning. No space. The crowd moves rapidly. People are physically close, yet emotionally distant. The whole thing feels like a mechanical rehearsal for survival. A state without spirit.
Metro Station 03, 地铁站 03
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2021
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2021
EST8: In your work, faces are often erased. From a psychological lens, this reads as a denial of individuality—and an emphasis on collective consciousness.
Jiang: Yes. Over time, that became part of my visual language: let the environment take center stage. It sharpens the idea of a crowd, a system. That’s how I understand urban life today—a structural force that shapes people more than people shape it. You’ll notice that my imagery is filled with blocks and straight lines. To me, they reflect the psychic condition of our time.
Metro Station 02, 地铁站 02
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2020
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2020
EST8: Why those shapes?
Jiang: Because that’s how the world feels to me now. Mechanical. Broken. Hard-edged. High-density cities like Guangzhou are obsessive by design—black or white, sharp boundaries, no space in-between. It’s like a collective operating in sync toward a single undefined task.
EST8: And what, exactly, is everything turning for?
Jiang: Survival, perhaps. Or maybe we no longer know. It’s inertia. A collective unconscious. Like a cage that moves with the tide.
Urban Village 02, 城中村 02
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2022
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2022
Urban Village 01, 城中村 01
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2020
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2020
Jiang: That’s why I’m drawn to the working class. Ornament holds little meaning for me. The longer one stays within society, the clearer it becomes: human experience is never one-dimensional. Human empathy isn't a posture—it’s simply returning to the weight of ordinary life.
Jiang: In The Porter, skyscrapers loom in the background as symbols of an unreachable ideal. Meanwhile, the figure labors in shadow, unable to escape, always looking toward something that never draws closer. Smoke, noise, weight—there’s no romance in it. But that’s what most people call reality.
Acrylic on canvas
90cmX120cm, 2019
EST8: But we’ve grown accustomed to the everyday. How many are still capable of sensing its subtle, private undercurrents?
Jiang: There’s a literary term: defamiliarization. I try to apply it to painting—make the familiar unfamiliar. Not by changing life itself, but by shifting the way we look at it. A new visual language can redirect attention. As you said, we’ve grown blind to the ordinary. It’s a symptom. Our spiritual crisis deepens, and so anything that delivers instant stimulation gains traction.
EST8: But could that also suggest a collective shift—one that only arrives after we’ve hit the bottom?
Jiang: Maybe. Maybe that will mark the start of another era—one that’s different.
Jiang: To read. To make. To ask what we truly need. Learning isn't about becoming better overnight. It’s about facing difficulty with a method that’s sustainable, that isn’t rooted in urgency. Hardship is part of the curriculum. But too many seek shortcuts. They want resolution on demand. And often, the need for speed is the problem.
Peek, 窥视
Acrylic on canvas
60cmX80cm, 2019
EST8: However, is there ever growth untouched by purpose?
Jiang: In The Porter, skyscrapers loom in the background as symbols of an unreachable ideal. Meanwhile, the figure labors in shadow, unable to escape, always looking toward something that never draws closer. Smoke, noise, weight—there’s no romance in it. But that’s what most people call reality.
Acrylic on canvas
90cmX120cm, 2019
EST8: But we’ve grown accustomed to the everyday. How many are still capable of sensing its subtle, private undercurrents?
Jiang: There’s a literary term: defamiliarization. I try to apply it to painting—make the familiar unfamiliar. Not by changing life itself, but by shifting the way we look at it. A new visual language can redirect attention. As you said, we’ve grown blind to the ordinary. It’s a symptom. Our spiritual crisis deepens, and so anything that delivers instant stimulation gains traction.
EST8: But could that also suggest a collective shift—one that only arrives after we’ve hit the bottom?
Jiang: Maybe. Maybe that will mark the start of another era—one that’s different.
Jiang: To read. To make. To ask what we truly need. Learning isn't about becoming better overnight. It’s about facing difficulty with a method that’s sustainable, that isn’t rooted in urgency. Hardship is part of the curriculum. But too many seek shortcuts. They want resolution on demand. And often, the need for speed is the problem.
Peek, 窥视
Acrylic on canvas
60cmX80cm, 2019
EST8: However, is there ever growth untouched by purpose?
CREDITS
Back Drop Photo 1
Metro Station 04, 地铁站 04
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2023
Metro Station 04, 地铁站 04
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2023
Back Drop Photo 2
Urban Village 02, 城中村 02
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2022
Urban Village 02, 城中村 02
Oil on canvas
120cmX160cm, 2022
JIANGZHI HUI
Born 1995 in Shangrao, Jiangxi. Master’s degree from the School of Fine Arts, South China Normal University. Appointed artist and assistant researcher at the Institute of Chinese and Foreign Art Studies. Currently lives and works in Guangzhou, Canton.
CONTENT CREATIVE: EST8 MAG