During his residency in the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai in 2015, Phil Akashi has created an artistic “trace” for the Swatch Art Peace Hotel collection.

The trace is part of the Street Art project Legend of the Dragon / " 龍的傳說 ". In this nomadic project across China, Akashi explores the Confucian notion of the great unity / "大同", and observes how modern China is embracing diversity as an asset for a harmonious world.

In the second chapter of the project, Phil Akashi traveled to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to create some innovative street art pieces and to open up a dialogue with local ethnic minorities. Located at the extreme west of China and larger than Alaska, Xinjiang is a land of extremes and bounty with a complicated, intriguing history, a complex network of ethnic groups, and a rich artistic, musical, gastronomic heritage. During the journey, Phil met the Uyghur ethnic group in the Taklimakan desert where he spray-painted on traditional Uyghur silk on a caravan of camels.

Later in his studio in the Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Akashi created the artwork "Untilted #9" composed of 9 abstract paintings in reference to the Uyghur ethnic minority who used to be a confederation of 9 nomadic tribes. The artwork is now presented in the Virtual Museum of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel's website.

« The Taklimakan desert was one of the great obstacles in the path of the Silk Road Merchants on their way to the Middle East. It was a meaningful opportunity to celebrate the region’s textile culture, its people, and its nature. The trading activities along the Silk Road have facilitated the transmission of goods, ideas and culture over many centuries and I wanted to tribute these traditions with my own artistic language » Phil Akashi

Ink on silk and Xuan paper with Chinese characters “龍的傳人“ / descendants of the dragon,
105x200x3cm - Shanghai 2015 

Detail 

Detail

Phil Akashi in his studio in The Swatch Art Peace Hotel on the Bund - Shanghai 2015

Learn more about the project Legend of the Dragon here.