Newman Huo

TO take care of his paralyzed father, university student Hu Xiang takes him to his dormitory. While living together in a small room, Hu creates a fantasy world for his father by reading stories of traveling to places around the world, such as New York, Paris — and Zhumadian in Henan Province.

This is the story the 38-year-old Guangzhou artist Duan Jianyu has narrated in her short novel, “New York, Paris and Zhumadian.”

Duan’s two novels and the maps and landscape pictures she has casually sketched on discarded cardboard packaging based on the plot in her novel are being displayed at a joint contemporary art exhibition in the He Xiangning Art Museum.

Titled “Departure,” the contemporary art exhibition pools 21 paintings, installations, photographs and video works from 20 artists from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao.