Jiawen (Jiji) Wei, born in Guangzhou, China, is a multidisciplinary artist based in London. Her work explores emotions through non-verbal communication, constructing narratives beyond words. Combining photography, found objects, digital processing, and traditional painting, she captures fleeting emotions and layered experiences. Her work often showcase in London, Barcelona and abroad.
Jiawen Artistic Practice in the Context of Her Generation
Jiawen using visual storytelling to bridge gaps between different identities and perspectives. Rooted in the unique lens of Jiawen, her work offers a deeply intimate yet universally relatable exploration of identity, belonging, and resilience.
Recently at Queerfest Norwich 2025, Jiawen present her Polaroid photography series: One-Shot Realities: Polaroid Nights in London’s Queer Underground. Jiawen’s work offer a powerful testament to visibility and self-expression, we can see intimate moments of the lives of the London queer youth community, Jiawen with her Polaroid, capturing their intimate moments, struggles, and celebrations.
One-Shot Realities showcases her expertise in Polaroid photography, with images that exude a warm, slightly blurred texture, enhancing a sense of nostalgia and the fluidity of nighttime emotions. The young londoners in her lens reveal their true selves in both public and private spaces. Soft lighting and gentle contrasts create an intimate yet subtly distant atmosphere. Jiawen crafts psychological spaces, making the viewer feel as if they are witnessing silent conversations between the subjects and their surroundings.
Her work serves as both a personal testament and a broader commentary on visibility, identity, yet full of emotions and resistance. Seeing her work fully exhibited in a free and open environment for the first time was profoundly moving—an experience of being understood, accepted, and truly seen.
Amidst the labyrinthine alleys of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, Jiawen’s solo exhibition emerges as an intimate dialogue between imagery and identity. As a young photographer her lens captures more than just faces—it unveils inner landscapes and fragmented memories. In this exhibition we see Jiawen presents a series of portraits and urban scenes that explore themes of identity, marginality, and the loneliness of urban existence. Her visual language oscillates between the personal and the universal, creating a poignant meditation on displacement and belonging.
A Gaze of Solitude, an Echo of the Collective
Jiawen’s photography is not just a personal artistic pursuit—it is also a reflection of contemporary discourses on marginality and migration. In an era where young artists increasingly address diasporic identity and cross-cultural belonging, Jiawen’s work stands out as a deeply personal yet widely resonant exploration of these themes. Through her distinctive lens, she documents the ways in which Asian immigrants, queer individuals, and creative minds navigate their presence within European metropolises.
This exhibition marks a significant evolution in Jiawen’s visual language. Her commitment to experimenting with form, light, and cultural symbolism has resulted in a body of work that feels both intimate and expansive. His previous works often positioned her as an observer, but in this exhibition, she becomes a participant, embedding her own emotions into the images.
Where the Private Meets the Collective
Jiawen’s photography is a personal archive of memories, yet it also serves as a mirror to broader societal emotions. Her images—solitary figures, fractured urban corners, distant gazes—compose a poetic narrative of young individuals searching for a place to belong.
Perhaps, in the end, belonging is not a fixed destination but an ongoing process—one that Jiawen masterfully captures in light and shadow, in presence and absence.
 Wei, a multidisciplinary artist based in London.){kind=link}