The Chinese phrase “Xiang Wai” might mean “beyond image” as was coined by Jin dynasty essayist Sun Chuo in his work titled On My Journey to the Mount Tiantai. Likewise, the photographer Dai Jimin said: “The photos on show come from the instantaneous interaction between the camera, the subjects and me. That is, they are samples resulted from the camera’s constant collection of the on-site action trajectory of the subjects. Different from a ‘documentary’, a ‘sample’ is a transmutation of the truth or the imprint of the truth, hence moving from the figural to the abstract record.”

The phrase “Xiang Wai” might also mean “beyond this world” as was first mentioned by Qing dynasty literati Chao Yuan in a poem titled Dreaming of My Deceased Friend Cheng Fengyi. It is an elevated, defamiliarization expression as Dai Jimin explains: “Such imageries reflect both the reality and the individual existence. Is it life’s lingering memory or praying for soul, or soul’s warm retrospect or forecast for life? ” It is this defamiliarization effect that lends the audience a supernatural power.

Still, the phrase “Xiang Wai” might mean extraordinary artistry as was described by Tang dynasty scholar Sikong Tu in his work Twenty-four Opuses on Poetic Styles. A key point in contemporary art is to present social reality in unorthodox ways, that is, to accept a new, more complex, richer “world of the facts” as it is, so as to force artists to adjust their own worldviews, thus breaking the clichéd, conventional artistic forms.

Finally, I saw Daijimin’s pursuit of a much higher goal. In other words, what he is reaching for is no average views of the arts or the nature, but a much broader view of the world, the universe, and the human existence—a view about everything in the universe, a view that is both figural and abstract. From the thousands of photos taken, he carefully selected the ones that most represent the language of his heart. When exhibited with great care in the gallery space, we will see, these photos have shown the inclusive aesthetic view of both Chinese and universal, fully demonstrating the essence of the phrase “Xiang Wai”.