Eli Klein Fine Art has just opened a exhibition of photographs by Cui Xiuwen, one of China’s foremost female photographers. Her latest series, Existential Emptiness, which was previously shown in Beijing, pursues her reflection on the woman as individual in modern China. It involves a girl protagonist, considered the artist’s alter ego, accompanied by a life-size doll resembling her. Inspired from her own experiences, the appearance of the puppet without strings recalls Japanese Bunraku theatre, which the artist discovered on a recent trip to Japan. The scenes take place in the snow-covered mountains of Northern China and the digital photographs are mostly monochrome with the palette and format inspired by traditional Chinese ink painting. The quiet, ethereal landscape acts as a perfect setting for exploring the mind. Cui Xiuwen was born in Heilongjiang, China in 1970 and now lives and works in Beijing. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York.