Xinzhi Li is a Melbourne-based contemporary painter whose practice investigates the nature of self through the relationship between the physical body and internal psychological states. Working primarily in oil, her paintings draw on personal experience and intuitive methodologies to reveal ineffable emotions, memories, and dreamlike states. Intentionally unresolved or incomplete passages within the work mirror the ongoing process of psychological healing — a continual cycle of revelation, fragmentation, and reconstruction. Abstract and figurative elements merge to create liminal spaces where familiarity and estrangement coexist, expressed through fragmented anatomical forms, floating heads, and synthetic colour palettes that evoke both recognition and inner tension.

Li’s process embraces a balance between control and surrender. Through paint pouring, layered glazing, and experimental surface building, the works are allowed to develop their own agency. The interplay between opacity and transparency, interior and exterior space, generates auratic environments that invite viewers into a realm of emotional and psychological exploration, encouraging slow looking and personal reflection.

Xinzhi Li holds a Master of Fine Art (2024) and Bachelor of Fine Art with First Class Honours (2022) from RMIT University, Melbourne. She has exhibited in multiple group exhibitions including the Graduate Exhibition: Master of Fine Art at RMIT (2024), Through Time and Space at the Chinese Museum (2022), and earlier RMIT graduate exhibitions in 2021 and 2022. Her work was also featured in Fluid Sample: Childhood and Memory at Le Grange Gallery (2025). Li’s practice encompasses drawing, watercolour, and oil painting, and she works fluently across Chinese, Cantonese, and English.