Essex Flowers presents Silk Compass, Xinan Helen Ran’s third solo exhibition, exploring maps as both practical tools and symbolic artifacts. Drawing from her collection of wartime cartographic materials, Ran creates an immersive space of etchings, drawings, and signage. Highlights include silk banners depicting Arctic regions from 1598 and 1951, and etchings of Manchuria’s wartime map on circuit boards. The exhibition examines the fragility of knowledge, shifting borders, and the illusion of mastery over nature.
