Gallery 🖤


  1. Reincarnation
  2. On Purple
  3. Vortex Dream
  4. Oli Li Camberwell MA: Fine Art Drawing Chronicles Fan
  5. Snail House
  6. Untitled
  7. Oli Li Reincarnation
  8. Evil in Nature
  9. Purple Mist
  10. Mr. Swan
  11. Meet Death
  12. Untitled Collage
  13. A Little Snail Boy in London


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P005 → Snail House




When I first entered society, I experienced various "survival" crises. I was busy working during the day and living in a small space after getting off work. Looking at the night view outside the window, I suddenly realised that I was like a small snail with a heavy shell on his back. Being crushed and out of breath. In the area where I live, the road ahead is the most affluent area in Shanghai - Cuihu, where there are all the residences of wealthy people, while the road behind is one of the shabbiest areas, with many types of houses. They are all pavilions. 

(The pavilion was originally used for storing sundries or as a servant's room. In the early 20th century, Shanghai's urban population increased significantly and housing was extremely tight. A large number of pavilions were rented out for profit. Because it is low and narrow, faces north, has poor lighting, and is under a balcony, where it is cold in winter and hot in summer, the living conditions are relatively poor, so the rent is relatively low. Tenants who rent pavilions are usually low-income people who are strapped for cash.) 

Reference: 亭子间 (2021) Wikipedia. Available at: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%AD%E5%AD%90%E9%97%B4 (Accessed: 25 December 2023). 

I interviewed some people living in Shanghai. Some of them were security guards, foreign trade workers, and ordinary white-collar workers to understand their living conditions. Then I made an installation that can walk on my back, and performed a "walking performance art" in a shabby old building in Shanghai and in Shanghai's most prosperous Bund, to reflect the current life of people in big cities. 

While executing performance art, I got feedback from diverse individuals. Several observers halted to inquire about the underlying theme of my artistic expression, while others engaged by interacting physically with my artistic representation, such as touching my symbolic "snail shell." While recording my artistic, I frequently chance encountered policemen. This occurrence heightened my anxiety levels, particularly amid the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. 


Snail House, 2020, Procreate, 4961*3508 Px