Kan Shan Shui

Contemplating Mountains and Waters

Kan Shan Shui is an ongoing artistic research project by Nerissa Mengyi Li, exploring perception, the human-nature relationship, and how we construct connections with ourselves, others, and the world in an increasingly technology-driven era. Posing the central question—How can humanity remain human in a technological future?—the project originates from the artist’s embodied geography and personal trajectory, bridging her art historical research in Europe with the rapid technological expansion of her home city, Shenzhen, and the ancient landscape heritage of her birthplace, Chongqing.

Guided by her artistic philosophy of the "Three Stages of Seeing" (看山三境界) and the visual motif of hand-eye configurations inspired by the Thousand-Hand Guanyin at Chongqing’s heritage sites, the project employs speculative world-building and moving image to transform cultural memory into infinitely expanding, future-oriented, mythic perceptual realms of Tian Ren He Yi (天人合一).

Origin:Kan Shan Shui

Origin:Kan Shan Shui

Outside World:Kan Shan Shui-dunhuang

Outside World:Kan Shan Shui-dunhuang

Inner World:Kanshanshui dream(2d world)

TRHY World:Kanshanshui Blue