Elisabeth de Brabant Art Center celebrated its 1st anniversary this past weekend, opening its latest exhibition "Exotic Flowers" by Xiao Hui Wang.

Revolving around the theme of life, death and rebirth, the artist's works are large scale photographic prints, showing different stages of a flower's life cycle as an intimate story of personal life.

The challenge is to gaze at the images and capture the stories within them -- to see each stage as an aspect of creation, vivacity of life and beauty, but also fragile as their life comes to an end, to then experience rebirth in spring.

Also a professor at Tongji University, Xiao Hui Wang's journey with photography started at the age of 13, at the time of the Cultural Revolution.

Using a her uncle's camera, she began taking pictures of everything she saw. The impact of those times also meant finding alternative ways of expressing stories, she says, and she wouldn't be where she is today if she hadn't taken so many photographs then. 

Recording stories seems to be Xiao Hui Wang's raison d'etre. So it's not surprising that even with flowers as her photography subject, she can portray life's changing tides.

Until 28 February. Elisabeth de Brabant Art Center, 299 Fuxing Xi Lu, near Huashan Lu. Tel: 6466 7428