O-1 Visas
I believe in ghosts. So does Lili Xie, specifically the ghost of Pangpang, a long-gone family pet. She’d forgotten all about the pup until a visit with a shaman in Shanghai, who told her that a white ghost dog was following her. The installation “September 15, 2023. Visited Lincoln Park today, I could not feel Pangpang” relates Xie’s experiences since then with her spectral canine, whom she cannot see but can sometimes sense, be comforted by, and communicate with. Unlike living dogs, ghostly ones can travel across international borders and also visit places where animals are forbidden, and so Pangpang has proven an exceptionally loyal companion for an expat artist. The story of their walks throughout Chicago, told in a video shot from a dog’s point of view, is punctuated by Xie’s recollections of surviving China’s covid lockdown, as well as her dredged-up memories of Pangpang’s death. It is sweetly installed amid a series of lightboxes and small clay sculptures hung at a dog’s height. A mural of colorful torn paper joins these elements together, like rainbow fur, fabulous grass, or, as in Chinese custom, an honoring to the dead.
—Lori Waxman 2025-06-20 2:55 PM