Liu Yujia

Liu Yujia

China

Liu Yujia graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and later obtained her Master’s Degree from the London College of Communication at the University of the Arts London. She lives and works in Beijing now. She has launched her solo exhibition at DRC NO.12 (Beijing, 2021), Tang Contemporary Art (Beijing, 2017, 2016), and Shanghai Gallery of Art (Shanghai, 2015). Her works have been shown in the 11th Shanghai Biennale at the Power Station of Art as well as the University Art Gallery-University of Pittsburgh.

Liu Yujia’s recent practice mainly explores the tension between reality and unreality in documentary images. She usually uses documentary film to represent a “real life” scene, while using fictional or “fake” images to depict the private moments of the “real” life. Her recent works give us an insight of the fictional and virtual side of the reality of our society through experiencing reality as fiction.



The Silence of Hands Single-channel 4K film, color, stereo sound; carpet knitting tools, work-in-progress Xinjiang Hotan/HeTian carpets 19’ 50” 2021 The Silence of Hands features female weaving workers (Khotan area) and female sewing workers (Kuqa area) in the carpet industry in Xinjiang, and documents scenes of them working and chatting in the factory. In The Silence of Hands, space and object, the whole and the partial, front and back constantly alternate; while the words about daily life and about oneself, commentary on politics and the Other take turns to be voiced in this work. Therefore, though the film turns its lens toward the silent hands of the female textile workers, their small talks break through the rules and boundaries of the factory. The social-political space echoes with the imagery space, implying the impossibility of complete silence. The video presents both the body and mind of the textile workers by showing their hand movements and chitchat. Furthermore, the photographers and the camera, even the gaze from the audience are all involved in the same situation. Hence, it blurs the rigorous distinction between craft and art, craftsman and artist, labor and creation.
The Silence of Hands Single-channel 4K film, color, stereo sound; carpet knitting tools, work-in-progress Xinjiang Hotan/HeTian carpets 19’ 50” 2021 The Silence of Hands features female weaving workers (Khotan area) and female sewing workers (Kuqa area) in the carpet industry in Xinjiang, and documents scenes of them working and chatting in the factory. In The Silence of Hands, space and object, the whole and the partial, front and back constantly alternate; while the words about daily life and about oneself, commentary on politics and the Other take turns to be voiced in this work. Therefore, though the film turns its lens toward the silent hands of the female textile workers, their small talks break through the rules and boundaries of the factory. The social-political space echoes with the imagery space, implying the impossibility of complete silence. The video presents both the body and mind of the textile workers by showing their hand movements and chitchat. Furthermore, the photographers and the camera, even the gaze from the audience are all involved in the same situation. Hence, it blurs the rigorous distinction between craft and art, craftsman and artist, labor and creation.
The Silence of HandsSingle-channel 4K film, color, stereo sound; carpet knitting tools, work-in-progress Xinjiang Hotan/HeTian carpets19’ 50”2021The Silence of Hands features female weaving workers (Khotan area) and female sewing workers (Kuqa area) in the carpet industry in Xinjiang, and documents scenes of them working and chatting in the factory.In The Silence of Hands, space and object, the whole ...
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