Urban Fiction
since 2004

The idea of this work was forged when I was traveling around Europe by train in 2003. After being in so many cities in the world, I realized that globalization has made urban landscapes everywhere similar and blurred the boundaries between them. So often, "here" can be anywhere. I have brought my vision and perspective to these urban spaces.

The architectural structures that I photographed are all maquettes made to promote real-estate developments that are being planned in China today. Some of the buildings already exist, and others will soon begin construction. When you face these models showing such a variety of different spaces and think about the life-styles associated with them, you start to wonder: is this the picture of life today? Do we really live in this kind of space and environment?

Globalization is reshaping our urban environment and our vision of life, as the “new” constantly replaces the “old.” Private living spaces expand with the growth of income but the city becomes more dense and fills up with modern buildings and high-rise towers. People live in cubes that are squeezed next to one another, separated only by thin walls. This physical proximity, instead of leading to greater closeness and intimacy between people, can often create psychological distance and loneliness.

The sculptural form of these new residential buildings, the floor plan of the apartments, and the various interior designs are all related to the inhabitants and their “individual” taste and needs. The models of these new living spaces are perfect and clean and beautiful but they are also so empty and detached of human drama. When you take these models and begin to add real life--even a single drop of it--so much changes.

This entire body of work is playful and fictitious, wandering between reality and fantasy. All the figures in this series are images of me, playing different characters. This creates another paradox: “I” am real but at the same time “I” am unreal. The figures act out totally imaginative roles as part of different plots and in different spaces that I visualize when I look at these models. For example, “I” am sometimes a white-collar office worker brought to despair by job pressures and spiritual emptiness. Sometimes “I” am a materialistic woman enjoying a life of pleasure and dissipation. Or “I” am a young girl who has accidentally killed her lover in a mood of anger. Together the resulting pictures compose the episodes of the urban fiction.

These images represent the state of urban life today. In our childhood, skyscrapers were buildings that we had to raise our head to look at. Now we can imagine our future by bending down to examine tiny models of buildings. This, perhaps, is another image of modern life.

Exhibitions on View
April - July 2006

On the Edge
Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West
Curator: Britta Lee Erickson
Venue: Feb 13-June 3, 2006
Davis Museum and Cultural Center/Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA
Exhibiting work: "disCONNEXION" series
www.stanford.edu/dept/ccva
www.ccva.stanford.edu/contemporarychinese.html

Fantasy Landscapes
Curator: Eliza Patten
Venue: Feb 16-Apr 29, 2006, Asia House, London, UK
Exhibiting work: "Urban Fiction" series
www.asiahouse.org

Moscow Photobiennale 2006
Venue: March 25-May 5, 2006, the Art Strelka Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Exhibiting work: "Urban Fiction"
www.mdf.ru

Ruins
New Photography and Video from China
Curator: Zhang Zhaohui
Venue: March 10-May 14, 2006
the Institute of Visual Arts (Inova) / UWM Peck School of the Arts, Wisconsin, USA
Exhibiting work: "disCONNEXION"

Between Past and Future
New Photography and Video from China
Venue:
March 23-May 21, 2006, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Summer 2006, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, USA
Exhibiting work: "Scroll" & "born with Cultural Revolution"

disCONNEXION/duplication
one person show
Curator: Daine Singer
Venue: April 4 – June 3, 2006
Maroondah Art Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Exhibiting work: disCONNEXION & duplication
www.chinesemuseum.com.au

Urban Fiction
one person show
Curator: Kim Simon
Venue: May 6-June 10, 2006, Gallery TPW, Toronto, Canada
Artist reception: May 10, 2006
Exhibiting work: "Urban Fiction"
www.photobasedart.ca

IMAGING A GLOBAL CULTURE
CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival
Curator: Bonnie Rubenstein
Venue:
April 28-May 31, 2006
Artist Talks: May 11-15, 2006; My talk is on May 11
Subway ST. PATRICK STATION, Toronto, Canada
Exhibiting work: "disCONNEXION"
www.contactphoto.com

Code: Blue - Confluence of Currents
Curator: Zhang Ga, Timothy Druckrey
Venue:
The Millennium Dialogue 2006
3rd Beijing International New Media Arts Exhibition and Symposium
June 30-July 10, 2006, Beijing, China
New Media Center, China Millennium Art Museum
Beijing Cubic Art Center, Dashanzi Art District (Factory 798)
the ISEA 2006 / ZeroOne Festival
Aug 5-13, 2006, San Jose, California, USA
Exhibiting work: "disCONNEXION"
www.newmediabeijing.org
www.isea2006.sjsu.edu

New Urban Realities
Venue: June 10 -Aug 13, 2006, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen + Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI)
Exhibiting work: "Sleep Walking", "disCONNEXION", "duplication" & "Urban Fiction"
www.boijmans.rotterdam.nl
www.nai.nl