Taking the metaphorical relationship between 'skin' and bark' as its starting point, The Weight of Surfaces explores the perceptual connections between the body, time and nature.In Qishan Li's practice, the human body and natural surfaces are no longer separate entities but serve as shared media that bear the traces of time and the memories of experience.

The texture of tree bark preserves the layered traces of natural time, whilst the reflection of the body in a mirror refracts the complex relationships between the body, gender and the gaze within contemporary visual culture. The surface thus becomes an interface; both recording the world and being constantly shaped by it.

In these works, through her observation of textures, reflections and material details, the artist transforms the surface into an entity capable of 'bearing weight - the weight of time, the weight of social expectations, and the weight left by bodily experience. As the viewer moves amongst these details, the surface gradually reveals the underlying structures and tensions.