Xinyi Hu Solo Exhibition

I love telling stories, first my story, then my family’s, then stranger’s, then no one’s, then everyone’s. With an attempt to articulate my thinking in narratives, I create a systematic visual language to speak out about thematic stories, in animation, painting and drawing. My narrative moves from playful moving creatures to realistic figure portraitures, to mythological abstraction, and now to cultural iconographies, which are mostly unconventional juxtapositions of scenes and figures to form non-linear narratives, creating an intimate panorama of society, identity, memory and utopia in layers of impressions.

Aroused by the current dynamics in society, my body of work conjures up childish characters as exotic visual representations implicated in both past and present ambivalences. My work explores the tension of the real and unreal, the unfamiliar and the established, and the embodiment and self-representation. It aims to present multi-generational and cultural background, nationality, and personal history, meanwhile unmasking my duality in sexuality (bisexual) and cultural identity (Chinese and American). My stories, either short or long, silent or garrulous, reveal the struggles for re-defining my queer identity, all pointing to my body, my mind, and myself.

Xinyi Hu (b. 1995) is a Chinese female artist, who is currently living and working in Philadelphia. She is a versatile artist who has developed a body of work in analog photography, oil painting, drawing and video. Hu’s practice targets the new era, of adapting the ingrained cultural traditions and the socio-political impact of rapid modernization in China. By addressing subjects from the personal narrative, her work focuses on questions about intimacy and the reciprocity of life. Ultimately, she is searching for reaffirmation and reassurance of her identity as being both modern and Chinese.