Across the River: Li Hei Di’s Painted Explorations of Selfhood

Produced on the occasion of Tongues of Flare—Li Hei Di’s first solo exhibition with Pace, on view in Hong Kong from May 29 to August 29, 2025—this film takes you inside the artist’s London studio. A lyrical new text that Li has written for their show accompanies this footage of the artist at work on new paintings, offering a glimpse of their process and inspirations. “I think about the experience of crossing a river,” Li writes. “I imagine most people want to swim quickly to the other side, but I find myself paddling in the middle, pulled and stretched by both fear and euphoria.” Tongues of Flare brings together 11 never-before-exhibited paintings, all produced by the artist in 2025, meditating on enactments of physical and spiritual transformation.