The 2025 Undergraduate Graduation Exhibition of the Central Academy of Fine Arts is currently on display. When artistic creation meets complex inner emotions, this graduation exhibition is no longer just a visual transmission, but has become a dialogue about emotions. In the exhibition hall, a group of "post-00s" creators use brushes, sculptures, and videos to bring this hidden emotion to the stage, making the growing pains, ununderstood loneliness, and unspeakable no longer murmurs in the dead of night, but a resonance shared by thousands of people.
01
The barrier between reality and memory
CAFAM@ 2025
Title: Memory and You
Artist: Chen Zhiwei
Instructors: Yang Jing, Zhang Wei, Wang Shaojun, Wu Yongping, Yang Kun
Dimensions: 340x150x180 cm
Medium: Mixed media
Chen Zhiwei's Memory and You originates from the longing for his younger brother, who left him many years ago. His younger brother was a very important part of his childhood life and left many beautiful memories. As time passes, the once-clear memories gradually fade and become fragmented. Therefore, he intends to use certain elements to depict the sense of memory fading away and the emotional reluctance to part.
Detail drawings
The work consists of a wall, two figures, and several old objects. The wall symbolizes the barrier between reality and memory, expressing the sense of distance in memory. The figure and the wall on the right are in a relatively complete form, representing the part of reality. The figures and walls on the left are shaped with a sense of dissipation, showing that memories gradually blur and fragment over time. Several old objects full of childhood memories are embedded in the wall, all carrying the bits and pieces of shared experiences. Although the emotion is heavy, in the artist's view, sometimes there is no need to step out of sadness—this is precisely a kind of happiness, proving the traces of their existence.
02
The Development and Reconstruction of Trauma
CAFAM@ 2025
Artist: Feng Jinjiayi
Instructors: Pan Jingru, Yao Lu, Wang Ziyuan
Work Information: In Search of Paradise Lost
Medium: Mixed media
In the exhibition hall of the Design School, there is a special narrative work titled In Search of Paradise Lost. The artist's grandmother is a patient with Alzheimer's disease. Through the experience of caring for her grandmother, the artist, from a first-hand perspective, has deeply felt the emotional struggles of being a caregiver and directly faced the widespread misunderstandings and stigmatization of this disease in society. By exploring the inner world of Alzheimer's patients, this project no longer perceives them from the perspective of healthy individuals for comparison. Instead, it cuts in from the patients' own feelings and attempts to break the public's stereotypes that this group "loses their sense of self" and "exists unconsciously" from a de-medicalized perspective.
In memory of her grandmother, the artist compiled the multifaceted emotions her grandmother experienced during her illness into a book. Hoping to adopt a more empathetic and subversive narrative perspective, she aims to convey and call on the public to treat Alzheimer's patients with more patience and respect, and to re-understand and accept them. This is not just a story about the fading of memory, but also an exploration of the reconstruction of love and social empathy.
03
Home is the final echo
CAFAM@ 2025
Work: Adults Trick Children: Falling Down Will Make You Grow Up
Artist: Chen Tongqi
Instructors: Chen Zhuo, Lin Tong, He Hao
Medium: Mixed media
The work Adults Trick Children: Falling Down Will Make You Grow Up uses the traditional Cimingxian opera stage from Fuqing as its carrier, exploring the "black dog" symbolizing grandpa's emotional knot through a child's perspective. With persistent love, the child searches for the "non-existent existence," transforming the process of searching into a tangible manifestation of love.
The work expresses a gaze upon "home" by integrating family videos with the space of the opera stage—those 心事 (matters weighing on the heart) hidden in wrinkles, unspoken cares, and the stubborn tenderness that persists despite knowing it may be in vain. At the age of seven, Ahua discovered that his grandfather would always murmur to himself by the opera stage, speaking of a "black dog" that only he could see. The innocence of childhood made him firmly believe that finding this "non-existent black dog" would untangle his grandfather's emotional knot. So he ran, fell, and got up again, as if in a stubborn ritual, transforming the search into a tangible form of love. When he grew up, he came to understand that some existences need not be seen with the naked eye—they are already engraved in the folds of stories and hidden in the sighs passed down through generations.
The artist wants to dedicate this work to everyone who has "searched" for something in their family: "We are always seeking some definite answer, but perhaps the evidence of love lies precisely in the 'search' that persists despite being in vain. Love is a kind of faith. I hope everyone can become closer to their family, just like the words on the wall at the exhibition: 'Home is our first story and our final echo.'"
04
When emotions take shape
CAFAM@ 2025
Author: Xu Zhiyi
Work Title: Looking Back
Work Size: Variable
Work Material: Experimental Animation
Instructors: Cheng Kemei, Zhou Shu, Zhao Bin
Xu Zhiyi is from Leshan and grew up by the Minjiang River. The river in front of her house flows toward the Giant Buddha not far away. Since childhood, the Giant Buddha has quietly overlooked people from the opposite bank. When she was young, she didn't find this particularly special—the Giant Buddha was just a daily sight by the river. It was not until she left her hometown to study elsewhere that she gradually realized those ordinary things she had never paid attention to had quietly merged into her memories and growth.
This work is both a look back and a response to the hometown. Through 2D hand-drawn illustrations and mixed materials, the artist attempts to reconnect with those overlooked gazes and companionships, responding to a kind of guardianship that seems distant but has never truly left, providing an outlet for the "unresolved emotions" in the heart.
While the moments of fragmentation during the creative process were undoubtedly painful, when reconstructing the texture, the artist touched upon life patterns more moving than perfection. As Leonard Cohen's poem goes, "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Perhaps we need not cling to eliminating the "unresolved feelings" in life but learn to transform scars into prisms of self-awareness. After viewing the exhibition, it is hoped that the audience will also feel: true reconciliation is not about accepting a perfect self, but embracing the soul that carries scars yet continues to move forward.
Reservation Channel
The online reservation and ticketing channel for the 2025 Central Academy of Fine Arts Graduation Season has been opened. Visitors can make reservations and purchase tickets through the CAFA Art Museum mini-program, WeChat official account, or official website (for ticketing instructions, please refer to the official website). The number of daily visiting slots is limited and available until full. During the graduation season, the museum is open as usual on Mondays.
When making a reservation, valid identification must be used for real-name registration. Each person can only make one reservation per day. After successful reservation, visitors should arrive
Chief Editor / He Yisha
Editor / Du Yinzhu
