'Ding Yi: The Winding Path' at Contemporary Gallery Kunming and Anthropology Museum of Yunnan University, China

11 July 2025

From 26 July – 9 November, Contemporary Gallery Kunming and Anthropology Museum of Yunnan University will present artist Ding Yi's latest large-scale solo exhibition, ‘The Winding Path’ curated by Cui Cancan.

In 2024, Ding Yi traveled to the ancient Naxi region of Yunnan. He was deeply drawn to the animism and nature worship of this ancient civilization, its notion of life returning to ancestral lands, the mysterious Twenty-Eight Mansions, and the grand pictorial scroll The Road to Heaven, which describes the soul’s journey. Ding Yi decided to make Naxi and Dongba culture the central direction of this exhibition.

The exhibition is divided into six sections and held across two art institutions. At Contemporary Gallery Kunming, new works by Ding Yi are shown, inspired by The Road to Heaven, the Twenty-Eight Mansions, the traditional Dongba paper, and the Hengduan Mountains. The section “The Recurring Journey” offers a retrospective glimpse into Ding Yi’s work from 1987 to the present, hoping to present the 38-year-long winding road of the ‘cross’ symbol. At the Anthropology Museum of Yunnan University, artifacts from the Naxi people are exhibited alongside Ding Yi’s travel sketches from his three visits to the Naxi region, as well as a documentary filmed by a Tibetan director, portraying the Naxi people's journey back to their homeland.

Explore via Contemporary Gallery Kunming.

Image: Details of Appearance of Crosses 2025-4, 2025, Acrylic, water-soluble color pencil and woodcuts on basswood, 120 x 240 cm. © Ding Yi. Courtesy of Ding Yi Art Studio