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Crimson Realm- Abstract Images of Tailing Lakes

by Yvette Depaepe
Published the 8th of December 2025

 

This months' featured exhibition is titled  'Crimson Realm: Abstract Images of Tailing Lakes' by Aidong Ning

Tailings, the remnants of extraction, are often seen as waste, toxic, lifeless, the evidence of what we do to nature. Yet from above, these scars of the earth unfold into patterns of quiet beauty. Even in what seems forsaken, beauty endures, waiting for the eye that chooses to see.
Sometimes I think, perhaps nature does not mind what we do. It moves by its own rhythm, with or without us. What truly changes is our place within it.
Photography, perhaps, is a way to listen to that rhythm, not to take, but to return; not to conquer, but to understand. It is born from the same desire to explore, yet it leads us closer again to see, to feel, to remember our belonging.
The colors of the tailing lakes are not decoration, but the breath of time where poison and beauty coexist, as all contradictions do.


To close the exhibition, Aidong offers this beautiful quote:

When I stand before these images,
I am never sure whether I am looking at nature,
or nature is looking at me.
 


I invite you to explore this amazing exhibition where photography is a poet of light, translating industrial scars into crimson verses as an admirer expressed so well in his review. Every image is breathtaking and incredibly powerful.

This exhibition which will be exposed on our opening page  / Gallery throughout December 2025. 
Click here to see the entire exhibition: [394] Crimson Realm: Abstract Images of Tailings Lakes by Aidong Ning



To trigger your curiousity, here is a short selection of images out of this exhibition.

 

Crimson Realm - Emerging of a Fish
 
 
 
Crimson Realm - Moth Dream
 
 
 
Crimson Realm - The Yellow Herd
 
 
 
Crimson Realm - Ash and Flame
 
 
 
Crimson Realm - The Seed
 
Write
Xuedong Bai PRO
巨作太奆了！
Ludmila Shumilova PRO
There is so much beauty in the world, even in things that poison the earth, like these tailings whose shape and colours are defined by their interaction with the natural landscape. They form extraordinary abstract scenes, an eerie poetic atmosphere, surreal forms. The colours are amazing. I have never seen such views. Great work!