‘Tomorrow Was Wonderful" solo exhibition is showing Lin Jingjing's ‘China Dream’ series, the artist plays on one of the biggest buzzwords of current Chinese society.

The ‘China Dream’ is a recurring slogan in China’s current society, used to describe roles and aspirations of individuals and also those of the nation. Through her works, Lin examines how this ‘dream’ can have different interpretations for each person and invites her audience to consider these interpretations, and to compare and contrast them to the wider national context.

The exhibition features installations alongside Lin Jingjing’s surreally-colored canvases, allowing the viewer to lose their sense of reality and become immersed in hers, journeying through her imagination as she guides them through her interpretation of contemporary society.

The title, Tomorrow Was Wonderful, suggests an idea of looking back from the future with a sense of omniscience or hindsight at these personal and national aspirations with a sense of judgment.

In this time dominated by the idea of the Chinese Dream, the future is beautiful, a time of progress and achievement.

However, Lin suggests that perhaps when we get there, we will look back on our visions and aspirations for tomorrow and see warm memories fraught with an optimistic naivety rather than a reflection of reality.

This prompts us to consider this possibility not only in relation to the Chinese Dream, but also in relation to both our own lives and to history – past, present and future.

Think back to years ago. What did you think your life would be like today? What were your hopes for the future? Now, consider the present. Is it everything you dreamed it would be, or did expectation exceed reality? These are the questions Lin Jingjing asks her audience to reflect upon as they take in her works. These hopes and dreams and their discord with what comes to fruition are relevant not just on a personal scale, but also on a communal or national one. What are we told to believe; how many of our unrealized dreams were fed to us by outside forces, and what was their motive for leading us to wish for such things?