Brussels | Private Exhibition Tour, Wine & Discussion | Arcana: Queer Intimacy, Symbolism & the Language of Survival
✨ Arcana: Queer Intimacy, Symbolism & the Language of Survival
Join us for a compelling encounter with Arcana, a solo exhibition by Chinese artist Killion Huang. This body of work unfolds through a series of new paintings that draw on the enigmatic symbolism of the Tarot to explore queer life within contemporary culture.
Hosted at EDJI Gallery, this exhibition invites viewers into a layered visual dialogue where ancient iconography meets lived experience, where identity is not fixed, but continuously interpreted, embodied, and reclaimed.
What’s included:
🖼 Immersive viewing of the exhibition
💬 Space for reflection on identity, symbolism, and queer narratives
🎨 Insight into Huang’s evolving artistic process
🧭 A visual journey through intimacy, resistance, and presence
About the Exhibition
For his third presentation at EDJI Gallery, Killion Huang (b. 1999) introduces a new series of paintings completed in late 2025. Using the symbolic structure of the Tarot, Huang constructs a deeply personal framework through which queer identity is explored not as something static, but as something fluid, interpretive, and lived.
Rather than adhering to traditional notions of divination, the Arcana becomes a site of transformation. Huang filters its dense symbolism through personal history, creating a dialogue between inherited visual languages and contemporary experience.
Central to this series is a striking material shift, the introduction of a “bronze” aesthetic. Through metallic, statuesque forms, Huang invokes the visual authority of monuments, structures historically reserved for dominant narratives. In doing so, he challenges the fragility often imposed on LGBTQ existence, asserting instead a permanence and resilience that resists erasure.
This evolution extends into his technique. Building on his signature “permanent rose” underpainting, Huang applies paint in thick, tactile layers, carving into the surface to create fluid, cascading textures. His unique relationship to colour, shaped by colour vision deficiency, results in a palette grounded in reds, browns, and blues, offering both emotional depth and a sense of stability within an otherwise uncertain world.
My take on the exhibit, by Art Gallivant :
There is something quietly radical in Huang’s approach. In a world where queer existence is still contested, legally, socially, and historically, Arcana resist easy identification. Instead, the figures are present and communicate through posture and gesture,
By embedding these intimate scenes within the ancient symbolism of the Tarot, Huang creates a tension between past and present, visibility and erasure. These works insist that even when histories are suppressed or denied, they persist, quietly, powerfully, and undeniably.About the Gallery
EDJI Gallery is a contemporary art space dedicated to showcasing emerging and established artists whose practices engage with urgent cultural and social questions.
Rooted in a commitment to dialogue and experimentation, the gallery fosters encounters between artists and audiences, creating space for new narratives to unfold.
A space for reflection. A language of resistance. A presence that cannot be erased.
✨ Limited spots. Intimate group. Shared reflection.
We look forward to welcoming you for an afternoon of art, conversation, and collective reflection.