The "Shine through the Darkness" series stands as one of Mediha Ting's recent ventures into mixed media artistry, deftly interweaving Acrylic, Chinese ink, and color spreading techniques to yield a distinctive aesthetic equilibrium between the figurative and the abstract. Within the artistic tableau, the portrayal of light amidst darkness emerges as a poignant motif, symbolizing a transcendental emergence from profound obscurity. In the series, Ting deftly employs Islamic geometric patterns, an homage to her cultural and religious heritage, infusing the canvas with nuanced references that signify the enduring struggle between humanity and adversarial forces— both external and internal. Central to her thematic exploration is a profound belief in the resilience of faith, positing that within its sanctity lies the potential to navigate the labyrinthine passages of darkness, ultimately unveiling pathways to illumination and inner serenity.

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The genesis of this painting series finds its roots in the profound influence of two essays authored by Ting's grandfather—an exploration delving into eschatological themes, portraying the cataclysmic denouement of the world and the relentless struggle between humanity and malevolence. Concurrently, these artworks encapsulate echoes of societal upheavals embroiling Hong Kong during the genesis of their creation. Within “Shine through the Darkness” is a series of Ting’s latest Chinese Contemporary Ink paintings that navigates through the tapestry of Hong Kong's past, present, and the uncharted territories of its future. Washes of colors seem to almost permeate the placid paper underneath with an intangible strength comparable to that of memories’. Lightweight, pervasive, and ever-present, the soft watercolors perforate across the horizon like units of subconsciousness coalescing as a city’s collective consciousness. The artist perceives the past three pandemic-laden years and social convulsions as an inflection point, an axial juncture reshaping the city's narrative fabric. Within the prismatic hues lies Ting’s pictorial exploration to grasp and encapsulate a transformative epoch in Hong Kong's annals, tracing this odyssey through redolent coastlines and cityscapes.

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In "Shine through the Darkness,” Ting recounts her internal world inhumed in sociopolitical externalities through converging Western and Eastern approaches of the subconscious mind, as seen in Surrealism and I Ching, as well as composes Chinese Contemporary Ink paintings with the use of photography in molding abstracted landscapes. Engaging the venerable tradition of Chinese Ink painting, Ting abstracts these captured moments further, interweaving fragments from eras bygone, the palpable present, and the ephemeral figments of an imagined tomorrow. This effervescent process finds resonance in the enigmatic dance of surrealist automatic drawing, an artistic kinship reminiscent of the techniques adored by luminaries like Salvador Dalí or Joan Miró. In her painterly discourse, Ting endeavors to capture dichotomies—the interplay of beauty and horror, hope nestled within despair, and the poignant dialectic of familiarity and estrangement. Emerging from a fusion, Ting's techniques produce a synergy harmonizing conscious and subconscious, entwined in traditional aesthetics of Chinese painting and photographic abstractions.

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On the one hand, Ting’s approach resonates profoundly with principles espoused by I Ching, the ancient Chinese divinatory text revered for its philosophical depth and symbolic richness, embodying the dynamic interplay of opposites—Yin and Yang, the mutable nature of existence, and the cyclical rhythms governing life's ebbs and flows. Ting channels these concepts into her artistry, employing fragmented layers of contrasting colors to symbolize the duality and fluidity inherent in existence, akin to the shifting hexagrams and interplay of lines in I Ching. On the other hand, Ting’s methodology also mirrors contemporary master Gerhard Richter's in her deliberate utilization of photography as a starting point for paintings. She too engages with photographs, using them as a foundation to reimagine and reconstruct landscapes through her drawings and subsequent painting techniques. Her process of fragmenting, abstracting, and recontextualizing photographic imagery echoes Richter's transformative approach, where the captured moments undergo an emotive and conceptual metamorphosis. The convergence lies not only in the technical aspects of the West and the East but in a shared philosophy—an endeavor to transcend the literal representation of photographic reality into a realm where the essence of a moment is captured and reinvigorated through artistic interpretation.

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Embarking on the pictorial odyssey of Hong Kong’s sociopolitical climacteric through Ting’s lens, the inaugural piece of the series, "West Kowloon Waterfront," holds a deeply personal resonance—an intimate vista visible from her sanctum, the window of her abode. A decade since her return from London to Hong Kong, this cityscape has served as a silent witness, a sanctuary amidst the tumult—a constant, unwavering beacon of solace. Transcending the mere act of replication, Ting reconfigures and recontextualizes photographic imageries of the skyline, infusing it with emotive depth and ambiguity that underscore the departure from literal representation toward an inner abstraction. This analogous process of translating photographs into emotionally charged, fragmented landscapes stands as an emblem of Ting’s affinity for exploring the intersection of visual media, a continued pursuit of infusing the static capture of a moment with the dynamic essence of lived experience.

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“曙光乍現”系列是定光琴小姐最新的綜合媒體畫作系列; 使用丙烯，中國水墨，用了一貫的創作方法 : 意象畫法，著重中西美學的結合加入了潛意識, 意識, 意景 ; 平衡具象與抽象。這一系列的畫作受到定光琴祖父寫的兩篇文章所啟發: [談世界末日]和[人魔爭鬥論]; 以及反映近期香港發生的社會事件。描述黑暗中的光明, 象徵著從徹底黑暗中重生。定光琴使用伊斯蘭的幾何圖案來暗示她的文化和宗教背景; 描述人類與撒旦的不斷鬥爭, 不單是外在也是內心。她相信只要有信仰可以使我們在重重黑暗中找到光明和平安!