Kaishui Yikai Liu’s tender series is a window into self-discovery and belonging at art school abroad

In an evolving educational landscape, record numbers of Chinese students are choosing to study abroad. In 2021- 2022 alone, over 150,000 young people across the world decided move to the UK to pursue higher education. Chinese students made up the largest group of international influx that year, with many more following in 2023 and 2024. The photographer Kaishui Yikai Liu – one such Chinese creative studying in the UK – was intrigued by the reasons behind the phenomena, but also the real life experience of these overseas students. So was born his ongoing series Between your eyes and mine, a project that documents the lives of international art school students navigating the complexities of living far away from home.

This original seed for the series of portraits is rooted in the photographer’s own experiences of self discovery within this cross-cultural context – he wanted to seek out other students that had shared similar experience : “I chose to document the experiences of Chinese millennial and Gen Z students for the series because, unlike earlier generations of Chinese returnees who have already established themselves in different industries, millennials and Gen Z are still in the process of shaping their identities and futures,” he says. Interested in finding out how other art school students were adapting, struggling and or finding a sense of identity or belonging on foreign ground, the photographer set out to document “friends, friends of friends, or people I have met in London through university, parties, events, and gatherings”.

Basing his approach on a sense of familiarity, Kaishui created his portraits through a series of visits to each of the participant’s homes. He conducted informal interviews with over 30 individuals to learn about their experiences studying abroad; why they chose to come to the UK, and what personal objects in their living space mean the most to them. As for the image making, this was all about “letting the process unfold naturally”, and establishing a sense of trust. “I didn’t aim to construct a staged or idealised image; rather, I documented them in their most authentic and present state,” Kaishui says.

Through this process, Kaishui hoped to find alternative answers to questions his own experiences of moving away from home had pushed him to ponder: “Was this journey worth it? Were Chinese students just passing through, leaving little traces behind? These were questions driven by a sense of uncertainty and even frustration,” he says. But as the project continued, the photographer’s outlook shifted, and a wide range of perspectives and personalities intersected to expand his view on the matter: “I realised that there is no singular answer to the question of studying abroad: everyone carries their own struggles and aspirations, but what stood out most was their personal resilience,” Kaishui says. “Studying abroad is more than just earning a degree; it’s a deeply personal journey of self-discovery and cultural integration.”

Amongst feelings of loneliness and uncertainty, Kaishui was able to find commonality and understanding in documenting these interactions, each image appearing to narrow an invisible gap between his life and his subjects. Hence the series’ title, Between Your Eyes and Mine. It’s a fragment of a quote from a Syrian poet Adonis that he stumbled across during the making of the project: ‘I see what I do not comprehend, and feel the universe flowing, between your eyes and mine’. “These words encapsulated what I was trying to convey,” Kaishui concludes. “Like stars in a vast universe, we flicker in our own ways, and the answers we seek are not absolute; they exist in the silent exchanges of understanding between us.”