esea contemporary is delighted to welcome Hong Kong-based artist Pan Li for a research-oriented artistic residency exploring the relationship between Chinese ink painting and British botanical heritage.
Working across gardens, landscapes and sites of botanical significance, Pan will develop a new body of paintings inspired by four plants that have become enduring symbols of the UK’s four nations: the English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil and Northern Irish shamrock. Through close observation and sustained engagement with these species, the residency offers an opportunity to consider how cultural identity, place and ecology can come together through the language of contemporary ink painting.
Pan's practice is rooted in the traditions of gongbi (meticulous brushwork), combining technical precision with careful observation of the natural world. Building on the artist's acclaimed botanical series ‘Fern Shadows’, the residency extends an ongoing investigation into the expressive potential of ink, using British flora as a point of encounter between East Asian artistic traditions and the landscapes of Britain.
During the residency, Pan will undertake field research, botanical study and studio experimentation, translating sketches and photographs into a series of 12 new ink paintings. Rather than depicting plants as scientific specimens, the works explore their structure, movement and symbolic resonance, revealing the interplay of fragility, resilience, and transformation.
The resulting body of work will form part of Pan Li's forthcoming solo exhibition, ‘Four Realms: Encounters in Ink’, opening in Hong Kong in autumn 2026. Developed during the residency, the series will stand as a record of cross-cultural research, artistic experimentation and intimate dialogue between Hong Kong and Manchester. By engaging directly with Britain's native flora through the visual language of Chinese ink painting, the project creates new perspectives on both artistic tradition and shared natural heritage.
Pan Li’s residency is generously supported by UOB Hong Kong.
Pan Li is an ink artist from Hong Kong whose ancestral home is Shaoguan, Guangdong, China. She studied at the Overseas Programme of the Xu Beihong School of Arts at Renmin University of China (Hong Kong), where she received a Teaching Qualification Diploma in Fine Arts, and completed the Professional Diploma in Chinese Ink Painting and the Advanced Diploma in Flower-and-Bird Painting at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Working across landscape, botanical and flower-and-bird painting, Pan's practice is rooted in the traditions of Chinese ink while exploring the expressive potential of contemporary ink. Through continuous experimentation and observation, she develops works that balance classical techniques with a distinctive contemporary sensibility.
Her work has been exhibited in Hong Kong and internationally. In 2025, she received the Gold Award in the Landscape/Figurative Open Category at the UOB Art in Ink Awards for Fern Shadows, which also won the UOB Ink Art of the Year Award.