01/01/2026
Let Light In
In 1826, Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce coated a pewter plate with bitumen and, through “heliography", obtained the first permanent image in the history of photography—View from the Window at Le Gras.
Photography constructs illusions upon the "indexical" trace of reality, leaving behind tangible, holdable evidence to corroborate the “real". The human will to intervene in cognition through images has moved beyond "Allegory" into reality. Since then, viewers have learned to discern truth from falsehood and to choose different perspectives to understand the world, while photographers bear the responsibility for interpretation. This complete path of argumentation—from capturing the object to generating meaning—appears especially protracted in the area of instant revelation of the image, which is a common demand. We need to exercise some patience and wait for the latent image to slowly emerge.
And all of this depends on light coming in.
In 2026, we anticipate light; we salute the 200th anniversary of photography's origin.
With this, we sincerely thank all individuals who connected with NOMAD NO MAD SPACE through work in 2025: Alicia、Linbo Huang、Jollen Jiang、Lily、Lizi、Dante Zhang、Cee、Arya、Lilia、Xiaotian Zhang、Vivia Zheng、Zoe Zhang、Jason、Bronek Kozka、John Rash、Shane Hulbert、Chris Pan、Zhihua Duan、Oin Zhang、Peggy Wang、Jingxian Wu、Hengli Ge、Shaoyan Yu、Danhong Zhao、Luyi、Jenny、Jack Wang、Xiaomu；Annual Partner Institutions: FULINGNAI, B1 SUR, 西木Studio, and HLiiC Imaging Center; Community Support: RMIT University China Alumni Association, Shanghai Art Map; And all participants of the NOMAD NO MAD SPACE Study Group and every visitor.
Dan Zhou 周丹, Laurence Chellali Laurence Chellali
