Pictured above: 2 year old Freya and 11 year old Athena at the immersive Home Sweet Home exhibition by Huaicun Zhang at Mall Galleries. Photo: Mark Sepple & WADE PR
Award-winning British-Chinese artist and children’s author Huaicun Zhang has transformed London’s Mall Galleries into an immersive exhibition exploring childhood, migration and the meaning of home.
Home Sweet Home, running until 15 August, is the first exhibition of its kind to be staged at the Federation of British Artists’ Mall Galleries. Combining painting, illustration, storytelling, sound, light and interactive installations, the exhibition invites visitors of all ages to explore themes of identity, memory and belonging through a series of interconnected artistic spaces.
Open daily from 10am to 5pm, the exhibition features original oil paintings, watercolours, pencil drawings and large-scale installations inspired by Zhang’s childhood on the grasslands of north-west China and her subsequent life in Hong Kong and Britain. Admission is £10, while children under five can enter free.
A Mall Galleries technician places the final painting Home Sweet Home exhibition by Huaicun Zhang at Mall Galleries. Photo: Mark Sepple & WADE PR
Designed as a “living picture book”, the exhibition draws on more than three decades of Zhang’s work as a children’s author and illustrator, including her first fairy tale, Little Xian’s Garden. Visitors encounter thousands of suspended origami doves, Chinese calligraphy beneath their feet, and a series of themed installations including Sock Forest, The Red House, The Old Spider’s One Hundred Beds and Little Xian’s Garden.
Little Xian’s garden
The exhibition also offers a programme of daily family activities, including origami workshops, storytelling sessions, songs and interactive treasure hunts. Between Thursday and Saturday, visitors can also meet a live performer portraying the “Keeper of the Red House”, who leads readings, reveals objects connected to family memories and invites guests to contribute their own reflections.
The exhibition also offers a programme of daily family activities, including origami workshops, storytelling sessions, songs and interactive treasure hunts
Zhang, who is the recipient of China’s Bing Xin Children’s Literature Award, has published nearly 50 books spanning poetry, prose, children’s literature, picture books and art. Often known to readers in China as “Mama Huaicun”, she is recognised for combining visual art with storytelling to explore emotional themes through children’s literature.
A significant section of the exhibition showcases Small Stories, Big Feelings, a collection of pen-and-ink drawings created more than 20 years ago while raising her daughter. The series examines childhood emotions including anxiety, loneliness, resilience and love through a series of illustrated diary-like works. Originally created long before children’s mental health became a mainstream topic of discussion, the collection highlights the emotional experiences of young people through simple but expressive imagery.
Throughout the exhibition, Zhang incorporates elements of traditional Chinese philosophy and artistic practice, including ink painting techniques, the use of negative space and symbolic storytelling. Installations reference cultural traditions such as Tanghulu, the candied hawthorn snack associated with childhood in China, while themes of family, memory and returning home recur across the exhibition.
Profits generated through ticket sales, artwork and merchandise will support three charitable initiatives. A donation will be made to The King’s Trust, wearable art socks will be donated to The Passage to support people experiencing homelessness, and remaining proceeds will benefit Pencil Tree CIO, the charity established by Zhang and her family to support children’s creative education, emerging artists and international cultural and humanitarian projects.
Visitors will also be able to purchase books, limited-edition prints, oil reproductions, wearable art socks and other merchandise inspired by the exhibition, with proceeds supporting Pencil Tree CIO.
Home Sweet Home continues at the Mall Galleries, London, until 15 August 2026.
Advanced booking is recommended. TAP HERE
Interactive Activities at Home Sweet Home
Throughout the exhibition, visitors of all ages are invited to take part in a series of interactive activities – moments to make, imagine, play, remember and share.
Daily Activities
Origami Dove Making
Fold a white dove and add it to Little Xian’s Garden – a growing installation of peace, hope and home.
Design Wings for the Little Ant
What if a tiny ant could fly? Create a pair of wings and imagine where it might go.
Draw Your Family Story
Draw a memory, a person, or a moment that feels like home.
The Home Post-box
Write a letter to someone you miss, someone you love, or to your future self.
Light & Shadow Drawing Wall
Step into a world of moving light, floating words and hidden drawings. Watch shadows shift across the walls and discover how stories can appear through light.
Inside the Sock Forest – The Sock Forest is filled with playful interactive games for children and families:
Find the Lost Sock
Can you spot the missing socks hidden in the forest?
Odd Sock Matching Game
Match the odd socks and discover that different can still belong together.
Sock Story Hunt
Follow clues hidden among the socks to uncover tiny stories, memories and surprises.
Sock Message Wall
Leave a small note about home, family or friendship and add it to the growing forest.
Every Saturday:
Saturday Sock Stories
Bring your own pair of socks and share the story behind them – lost, loved, mismatched or remembered. Your socks may become part of the growing Sock Forest.
Every Sunday:
Sunday Story Songs
Join the Bear Family and Little Xian for songs, stories and shared moments of home.
Light and Music
Projected sound and vision elements are part of the experience at the ‘Home Sweet Home’ exhibition at Mall Galleries
Light & Ink Projection – Stories in motion
Throughout the exhibition, projection and light extend Huaicun’s stories beyond the frame.
The light show acts as a living companion to the paintings.
Visitors will experience:
- Huaicun’s handwritten calligraphy moving across the floor beneath their feet
- flowing ink spreading and dissolving like memory
- large-scale projected scenes of The Red House and Little Xian’s Garden unfolding across the walls
Together, these projected worlds symbolise Huaicun’s childhood, artistic journey and the landscapes of memory she carries.
Sound & Original Music – The Invisible Storyteller
Sound moves through every room of the exhibition.
Each space carries its own atmosphere through:
- original music composed especially for Home Sweet Home
- birdsong
- wind
- market sounds
- distant voices
- nostalgic street calls
Sound guides visitors through the emotional landscape of the exhibition. It connects the rooms like an invisible thread.
Art, music, theatre and culture feature in a multi-page round-up in every edition of Premier Magazine. Browse the latest edition HERE. We also publish a ‘what’s on’ bulletin each month here on the website.
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