In her solo show “Undisclosed Location” at the Chinese American Museum of Chicago, lens-based local artist Linye Jiang explores the distance between landscape and photographer in a series of quiet and surreal encounters. Historically monumentalized and framed to appear untouched by those who set out to capture it, landscape becomes something entirely different for Jiang: a place for interaction, intimate and fleeting. The exhibition is a breathtaking entrance into the museum’s ongoing Spotlight Series, which celebrates the work of contemporary Chinese American artists and is curated by artist and educator Larry Lee.

Jiang’s photographs use duality to negotiate between tranquil scenery and human presence. The works are pairs of repeated images, with one altered by the presence of the artist. Opening the exhibition, the diptych Butterfly allows its images to be viewed concurrently, directly illustrating the interaction between place and person. Its first photograph lingers on a moment of debris washing ashore on a muddy beach, and its second disrupts the image with Jiang reaching longingly upward over the beach, outstretching a finger toward a single butterfly amid the detritus. In Aquatic Plants, a double-sided work hung on a wire stretching across the gallery, verdant tops of small vegetation emerge from murky water, glittering as they pierce the water’s surface. On the verso, Jiang rests serenely in front of the rippling water, face cupped by an anonymous hand.

Quiet subjects and overlays of the artist create a dreamlike atmosphere, emphasizing the private and ephemeral moments of exchange experienced when fully present in nature. The scenes Jiang chooses to depict are secluded but familiar—a lone island, a rocky mountaintop, birds flying in the distance. Though the locations remain undisclosed, a feeling of recognition arises, situating viewers in the brief, vulnerable moment of exchange.

“Undisclosed Location”
Through 2/23: Wed and Fri 9:30 AM–5 PM, Sat–Sun 10 AM–5 PM. Chinese American Museum of Chicago, 238 W. 23rd, ccamuseum.org/linye-jiang-undisclosed-location, suggested admission $8 adults, $5 students and seniors, members free