Transcendence

By Suzanne Révy

I might be in the minority, but I love the long nights this time of year. It invites a kind of meditative introspection which is punctuated by the soft illuminations of Hanukkah candles or the shimmering lights on a Christmas tree. Xuan Hui Ng seems to embrace the cracks where the light gets through and is fascinated by fleeting ephemera found in nature. Her show, Transcendence: Awakening the Soul, is currently on view at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA along with the non-juried member’s show, Winter Solstice through January 7th, 2024 and a new installment of Illuminating the Archive with Bill Chapman on view through January 31st, 2024. 

(Feature Image) “Phantom” by Xuan Hui Ng from the show Transcendence: Awakening the Soul, courtesy of the artist, Griffin Museum of Photography, and Foto Relevance, Houston, TX.

“Serendipity #6” by Xuan Hui Ng from the show Transcendence: Awakening the Soul, courtesy of the artist, Griffin Museum of Photography, and Foto Relevance, Houston, TX.

Xuan Hui Ng fell into an abyss of depression after the death of her mother, but she found comfort in nature. As a child, she had visited Hokkaido, Japan’s northern most island, and she returned there to find its striking natural beauty had the power to mend her grief. To prolong that sensation, she began to photograph, and credits the the solace she found in the landscape with her own recovery. In fact, she asserts in her statement that even looking at pictures of nature can bring a sense of calm. And the experience of seeing her large prints in the two intimate galleries at the Griffin brought a sense of pensive harmony to my mood. 

“Remembrance #3” by Xuan Hui Ng from the show Transcendence: Awakening the Soul, courtesy of the artist, Griffin Museum of Photography, and Foto Relevance, Houston, TX.

“in Harmony #63” by Xuan Hui Ng from the show Transcendence: Awakening the Soul, courtesy of the artist, Griffin Museum of Photography, and Foto Relevance, Houston, TX.

Drawn to ephemeral phenomena such as fog, cherry blossoms, ice and “snow diamonds,” Ng employs a monochromatic use of color in abstract compositions to convey her awe. Light pink cherry blossoms swirling on water in a long exposure or layered over reflections in a pond, shimmer with a kind of delight. There is an interesting tension between the descriptive and the abstract in her studies of ice formations on water. Their scale and orientation are mysterious, and I sense that several of these pictures would be equally captivating when viewed upside down. 

“The Sound of Snow #27” by Xuan Hui Ng from the show Transcendence: Awakening the Soul, courtesy of the artist, Griffin Museum of Photography, and Foto Relevance, Houston, TX.

Ng’s pursuit of the transitory “snow diamonds” that appear when humidity is high, the wind is still, and the temperature is far below freezing early in the morning open a view to snow’s most elemental form. They are a sublime and rare wonder to behold. These crystalline forms scatter into fractal patterns that mirror murmurations of birds or the tiny vibrations of electrons and atoms. Ng’s stunning work is a paean to nature’s curative salve for the spirit.

“In Harmony #81” by Xuan Hui Ng from the show Transcendence: Awakening the Soul, courtesy of the artist, Griffin Museum of Photography, and Foto Relevance, Houston, TX.

“MKL and Coretta Scott King Memorial” by Bill Chapman (top) “Swimming” by Arthur Griffin (bottom), installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

The Griffin continues a tradition of photographers responding to its founder, Arthur Griffin’s archive. This month, Bill Chapman pairs several of his documentary works made in the past fifteen years. Visual and emotional conversations across time reveal how things change, and how they stay the same. The hands and feet of children in a particularly strong pairing between Griffin’s “Swimming” which features children at play under the spray of a fire hydrant and Chapman’s image of visitors to the MLK memorial in Boston show a striking sense of play while also addressing some of underlying issues around race that Boston still grapples with. 

Winter Solstice: All Members Show at the Griffin Museum of Photography, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

And the Winter Solstice All Members Show features nearly three hundred unframed prints. It showcases the the breadth of creative work among the Griffin Museum’s local and national photographic community. A toast to all for the holidays!

For more information: https://griffinmuseum.org