Cui Xiuwen is hosting her solo show, Light, in Beijing, displaying installations that explore different dimensions of a person's existence. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In two dark rooms set up in the same hall, images of colorful blocks are projected on the ground. When visitors hop on the blocks, the blocks disappear, giving the feeling that "you're falling from somewhere into a hole of darkness", Cui says.

The exhibition is presented by the Jillian Sackler international artists project. It was launched in 2013 by Jillian Sackler, widow of Arthur M. Sackler, an American physician and collector, who proposed and sponsored the building of the Sackler museum. The project brings to the venue an artist' solo exhibition every year, shedding light on cultural communication from individual perspectives.

Miguel A. Benavides, the exhibition curator from the United States, says that, like the project's previous participants, Cui has drawn on personal experiences to create touching works that "talk to each other" and showcase her understanding of Chinese traditions against a modern background.

Explaining her shift from figurative to abstract Zen-like way of creating, Cui says she has been reading a lot on religion and philosophy. She also meditates daily, a practice that has helped her review her works in a calmer, comprehensive manner.

"Reading the books has opened a door on the path of my life. It sometimes shuts and reopens when I'm awakened by more reading," she says. "In the process, my life has been scaled up bit by bit."

Contact the writer at linqi@chinadaily.com.cn

If you go

9 am-4:30 pm, through Aug 27. Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian district, Beijing. 010-6275-9784.