Steven He

Hedge and Boundary Wall of the House I’m Leaving

Shown at Thames-Side Studios Gallery in London October 2nd to October 19th, 2026 as a part of Falsework Group Show.

I made this piece while moving out of my home of the past six years. Through this process, I became very aware of how so many ordinary things were beginning to transform into a state of nostalgia. I started to notice things I had previously taken for granted, like my boundary wall. When I look at it now, I become more aware of everything that has happened within those walls over the past few years. Memories begin to feel solid.

The piece is covered in mayflies. As a fly that is known to live in post-larval stage for only a day, I see the mayfly as floating between the past and present. For me, this short emergence reflects the way memories can suddenly become visible when something familiar is about to disappear.

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I do not want to sentimentally romanticise the past or simply mourn its loss. Instead, I am interested in how progress and creation are shaped by what is fading as much as by what is remembered. Throughout my time at the house, I kept a drawer filled with small, random objects I had found while living there. Some of these objects are now embedded within the hedge in this work. I think of memories and stories much like objects: they come into contact, leave traces on one another, and are changed through their accumulation.

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