A Dream That You Would Never Wake Up

PHOTOGRAPHY

Mar 16

A Dream That You Would Never Wake Up From explores migration as a perpetual crossing between lands, memories and identities. Through collaged photographs, the artist reflects on displacement, ancestral histories and emotional borders. Nostalgia becomes visceral, belonging remains fragile, and the past persists as a dreamlike terrain where personal and collective histories quietly intertwine.

Photography and words Chelsea Ning

As I spend less and less time in my motherland, I feel that crossing the boundaries between two lands (borders) is like a dream I will never wake up from. The border is sharp, yet my memories of the physical places and people become blurry. As I grow up, the nostalgia and reminiscences become visceral each time I leave and arrive at a certain destination.

In this project A dream that you would never wake up from, I try to connect my migration and displacements with my ancestors, or at least, my grandparents. My family history is full of migrating and oscillating, and I start to ruminate over those photographs. What are the answers for us when we are displaced? I cannot help going back to my memories.

If there is a boundary in a physical land, I believe there is also a boundary for someone's heart. They shape parts of my identities, yet I always feel the process is subtle. By creating collages, cutting and tailoring photographs, I invite the audience to see the detachment, sense of belonging and reaffirmation through my lenses.

“If there is a boundary in a physical land, I believe there is also a boundary for someone’s heart.”

About Chelsea

Chelsea (Chuyuan) Ning (b. 2001) is a photographer currently based in New York with BFA in photography at Rhode Island School of Design. Chelsea grapples with ideas on dissonance, self-identity, replacement, displacement, isolation and nostalgia in her work. In recent years, Chelsea’s work has been featured worldwide in shows in Rome, London, Shanghai, New York and Providence, etc.

To see more of her work, visit her website or follow her on Instagram

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A Dream That You Would Never Wake Up From explores migration as a perpetual crossing between lands, memories and identities. Through collaged photographs, the artist reflects on displacement, ancestral histories and emotional borders. Nostalgia becomes visceral, belonging remains fragile, and the past persists as a dreamlike terrain where personal and collective histories quietly intertwine.

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A Dream That You Would Never Wake Up

“If there is a boundary in a physical land, I believe there is also a boundary for someone’s heart.”

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