In The 2nd Seven Years, Chang Yoong Chia presented a major solo exhibition marking fourteen years of his practice, structured as a tripartite inquiry into memory, mortality, and narrative. The presentation was the culmination of his residency under the Japan Foundation’s JENESYS Programme, reflecting a maturation of the meticulous, labor-intensive techniques that define his practice.

The centerpiece, Quilt of the Dead (2009), is a massive textile work constructed from the clothing of deceased individuals, donated by their families. By stitching these fragments of personal history into a collective memorial, Chang investigated the physical and psychic residues of loss, transforming the domestic act of quilting into a ritual of remembrance.

Flora & Fauna IV continued his exploration of organic materiality, specifically through the use of abalone shells as a support for oil painting. In works such as Baby’s Nightmare, Chang utilized the iridescent, textured surface of the shell to ground his fantastical, often unsettling imagery, blurring the boundary between the natural object and the artistic intervention.

The section titled Narratives featured large-scale oil paintings, including Tea Time (2009), which utilized complex, multi-figured compositions to explore emergent storytelling. Collectively, the exhibition positioned the artist as a “weaver” of histories—both personal and collective—using the “seven-year cycle” as a framework to measure the evolution of his visual language and the enduring weight of the past.