After the Rain is a reflection on memory, place, and the passage of time. Created in 2016 in black ink on vellum, the drawing is rooted in my experience at No. III Girls' High School in Shanghai, a campus built on a historic site where generations of lives have unfolded.
The landscape was observed one afternoon, immediately after heavy rain, when lingering moisture softened the air and transformed familiar surroundings into a quiet space of meditation, nostalgia, and sentiment. Working on translucent vellum allowed layers of ink to evoke the fragility of memory, where the present and the past coexist within the same landscape.
The historic buildings, designed by architect Ladislav Hudec, have stood for more than a century, bearing witness to the changing lives of countless students. Rather than documenting architecture alone, the drawing considers the campus as a living archive, where personal experience and collective history become inseparable. Through light, atmosphere, and layered transparency, After the Rain explores how places quietly preserve the memories of those who pass through them, revealing architecture not only as a physical setting but also as a vessel of time.
