Gene Gallery is delighted to announce the solo exhibition “An elephant in my heart” by artists Jin Jiachen, from August 20, 2023 to September 15, 2023. The exhibition is located on the 3F, Lyceum Theatre, No. 57 South Maoming Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai. This exhibition is collaboratively supported by BACKSTAGE ART.

Some mornings in July, I was reading Tong Weige’s Northwest Rain, a story about an old grocery shop owner, Wang, who reads a morning newspaper every day, from the obituaries on the first page to the advertisements on the last. One day his son, who had left home to wander the world, came back to him with Xiao Wang, who was even younger, and said, “All in all, we’re at the end of our tether.” “Then sell the grocery shop.”

Ever since then, Wang has taken young Xiao Wang to other grocery shops to buy a morning newspaper, a can of juice, and sit at the entrance of the building to read the newspaper. Young Xiao Wang sucks and sips the juice at the entrance to the building.

Then one day, Xiao Wang joyfully finished her juice, rolled down the stairs with a thud, and crashed headfirst into Wang’s back. And died.

Wang said it was really like a baby elephant through his heart.

I read this with tears slipping down into my ears and a dull ache coming from the top of my head Because I know I have a baby elephant in my heart.

As I read this, tears slipped down into my ears and a dull ache came to my head because I knew I had a baby elephant in my heart.

The day the important person turned into a star, I dreamt of a grey-green shadow.

Every day after that I imagined what shape death would take, and with each thought the grey-green shadow burrowed a little deeper into my heart.

By the time I realized it, it had turned into an elephant and was thumping around in my heart.

The elephant was strong for a long time, passing through my heart, caving in where it had trodden, making it difficult for me to breathe. There were times when the elephant became quiet and transparent again so that I almost forgot it was there.

The works on display in this exhibition depict images I generated while spending time with the baby elephant in my heart.