Preface: “While losing, I am gaining. Residing on a hilltop, sharing wine with the dusk. After sowing the wheat, I'm heading south.”

——From Leon's album "Head South, After Sowing the Wheat"

Head South After Sowing the Wheat

by Chen Haiyan

Following on from his solo exhibition last year- "THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, a study of life formulated around Mangshan, Luoyang, the Divine Capital", Luo Yongjin headed south, scrutinizinghis nearly 30 years collection ofphotos from the MagicCapital, Shanghai and adventured another exhibition. This time hissource has beenhis friendsfor their personal memories and eventual soul destinations, resorting even to AI, in an attempt to transcend the temporal and spatial fate of photography.

The rich social landscape of Shanghai, full of significant incident, has been shot, examined, traced, referenced, and mingled together in Luo Yongjin's elusive subjective consciousness. Projected dreams of Shanghai’s prosperity, spin and turn within this huge metropolitan depository. The kaleidoscope of human life, like spring flowers scattered in the air, is collected, sorted and sealed into mottled mirror frames, resembling footnotes to supplement the historical significance of the city.

Lu Xun dreamed of his experiences on the road to the next life,he refused to shed tears "After Death", while Yu Hua, who indulged in the absurdity of life and death, still wanted to tell the story of "living". It is said that there is no art, only artists. In the Gilded Age, the shamans who entertain the gods are disguised as psychics in sacrificial ceremonies, but the symptoms of the syndromeconceal the tension of time. Perhaps the hair turns white, swaying and singing to Bach's G major key. Phosphorescent firefloatsdimly in the dark of the theater, flickering and disappearing without trace, ultimately difficult to distinguish.

Autumn goes and winter comes, the north wind cold and the south wind strong. Head south after sowing the wheat...

Winter, 2025, Shu Le Wo, Shanghai