What makes a photograph powerful? Its aesthetic appeal or the ideas it conveys?
In this thought-provoking session, curator and researcher Yijing Li will guide us through the tension and dialogue between formal beauty and conceptual depth in photography.
We’ll explore how meaning is constructed in images, how portraits communicate beyond likeness, and how contemporary artists balance visual form with narrative substance.
Whether you're a fan of minimal composition or rich storytelling, this conversation will offer insights to deepen your creative approach and critical eye.

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Speaker Bio:
Yijing Li is a researcher and curator currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Art and Visual Culture (curatorial stream) at Western University. She holds both an Honours Bachelor and a Master’s degree in Art History from the University of Toronto. During her graduate studies, she worked with the Family Camera Network archive at the Royal Ontario Museum, exploring the cultural, social, and technological dimensions of family photography. Her essay, Family Portraits: The Reconstruction of “Family Time” Through Generations, was published in the University of Toronto Art Journal. In August 2024, she curated her solo exhibition My Diary, Seven Days After the 2019 Hong Kong Protests at Satellite Project Spaces. She also curated Roots & Branches: Walking Through the Fifty Years of Forest City Gallery at Forest City Gallery in 2024, and the group exhibition Becoming Otherwise at artLAB Gallery in 2025.