Hongjie He

River Hongjie He (1998, Chongqing, China) is primarily engaged in photography and textile creation, drawing inspiration from nature, philosophy, multiculturalism, symbols, and personal experience. Her creative journey began with ink painting during childhood, later evolving into photography and digital weaving. This progression reflects her continuous exploration of transformation—how images and concepts shift through different materials and mediums. Her work often embodies atavism, a return to primal, elemental forces, even as it engages with contemporary techniques. In response to the tactile and visual properties of textiles, Hongjie transforms her photography and graphic designs into large-scale tapestries using digital weaving machines. Her textile creations prominently feature natural elements such as gold, wood, water, fire, earth, and air, symbolically linking ancient, universal forces to the human body and spirit. Through the lens of material imagination and somatic memory, she connects these elemental symbols with both personal and collective experiences, exploring how humanity is constantly evolving yet always drawn back to its ancestral roots.