SIMPLE ONE is delighted to present Mortal Beings, the first solo exhibition of Chinese artist Liang Li, which contains her 37 photos and many related archival images in the past ten years. Since 2013, Liang Li has been traveling to the Himalayan region and South Asia to take records of the local people’s life, where diverse religious civilizations exist. Instead of being defined by physical distance, these areas are remote for the force of modernity to reach because of their natural environment, religion, and complex ethnicity. Liang Li’s works focus on the simple and mundane life of religious people, in order to convey a firm strength that has not been disturbed by modernism.

Liang Li’s works are mainly portraits with scenes of daily life, folk customs and specific rituals. Because of the geographical environment and specific culture, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and other religions blend with secular life. In their daily life, the subjects naturally present the continuation and search for the spiritual power of ancient civilization. Liang Li’s early works are rather documentary with the emphasis on a certain instant. With further exploration, she constantly adjusted between the role of creator and observer, and tried to rethink how to understand the freedom and habitat of spiritual life. Gradually her works became more quotidian and intimate, and the difference between subject and object disappeared. She was there with them, the monks, boys and girls, people on the streets and boats. Their eyes were pure and unguarded. Their life was simple and serene. At the same time, she insisted on capturing people and scenes, which blurred the line between performativity and daily life, so as to explore a universal perception of the world.