Female artist Yu Hang concentrates on photography featuring the female body in traditional settings. Her earlier works ‘Beauty with Sword’ took inspiration from Chinese heroines such as Mu GuiYingand Yu Ji. In the new works, these solemn and dignified figures give way to mundane girls in Ming and Qing Dynasties’ fiction; classicism is replaced by secularity. While indulging themselves naked in a private, liberating moment in front of mirror, the girls also willingly present themselves to a male’s gaze from behind the mirror.
Today’s fashion and cosmetology indicate a mentality of treating body as an object, as an effective tool pursuing social status. Yu Hang’s message is very much relevant today, her works not only captures fantasized imagination from traditional literature, but also illusions of cosplay game in a modern girls’ dormitory. By these works, artist Yu Hang explores how female perceive their bodies in a male-dominated social mentality. She also tries to construct a cultural and mental map, examining the fact that our traditional culture imprints our obsession and fantasy on the female body.
| 1981 | Born in China |
| 2001 | Graduated from the Sheng Yang LuYi Art School, China |
| 2006 | Graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China |
| 2009 | Received her Masters of Fine Art at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2008 | China Avant Garde, Los Angeles |
| 2008 | “Chalk, Ink” Beijing Tangsheng Art Salon |
| 2007 | “The Female Dormitory at The New Kaifeng Bridge”, Longyibang Gallery, Beijing |
Group Exhibitions
| 2009 | Passing by China, Eli Klein Fine Art, New York |
| 2007 | Aqua Art Fair, Miami |
| 2006 | “The Poet of Gentleness”, Longyibang Gallery, Beijing |
| 2006 | “Naughty”, Beijing Contemporary Gallery Group Show of 7, Beijing |
| 2004 | “Tulanduo”, Collaboration with Chen Yifei for Jingrongdasha Environmental Art Corp. LTD, Beijing |
| 2003 | “Experiencing Ancient Art”, China Geography—Natural Sciences Magazine Gubeikou Great Wall Modern Rock Painting |
Awards
| 2005 | “3rd Best Work”, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Bejing |
| 2004 | “New Creation Award” ,Central Academy of Fine Arts, Bejing |