Ping
MA print, Royal College of Art.
Based in China mostly, sometime in Europe and USA.
Ping’s art practice is a visual diary, via drawing, writing, and printmaking.
Her observations focus on femininity, aging and spiritual growth.
Ping Li
There must be some connection between us if you pass through this and spend a few minutes reading it. This is the journey when I am 50 years old and studying at the Royal College of Art in London (2022-2023).
Yes, I am fifty.
Perhaps you may say 50 is not that old,
yet,
in China 50 is the age women have to get retired,
kids leave home and go to college,
changes happen in our body and mind during menopause,
and,
some challenges with intimacy and relationships......
It seems we are facing the other side of the moon.
There is no light and it is dark and no ending.
Everything is going bad.
Block, yes the way forward seems totally blocked.
How about trying another approach?
to a new place?
doing something as a kid?
making difference......
Reading helps. Bell Hooks, Virginia Woolf, Suzuki......
These wonderful spirits are travelling through time.
These pull me out of the deep and I may stand up again.
In Across RCA our team propose ‘making menopause ’ which is making art and reading.
I could say I am a bit different now.
You may read it through my works.
The most important thing is sleeping well.
Enjoy our own journey.
cutting or shaping
Wood cut is the first print technique I practiced when I was going through menopause. Time is like a carving knife that leaves scratches on a female’s body. In Jan 2023 I kept on doing lino cut almost every day and made 20 pieces in all. This is the process I learned to accept scars, lose and aging. I use a mobile phone to take pictures and choose the meaningful images, and transfer them into lino. This is my visual diary.
object AB
50's
printers
couple
flying
Medium:
Lino cutobjects
We human are not objects.
I started to take us as ‘objects’ (them) when I practice live drawing.
The benefit is that there will be no difference in gender and it is possible we have a bigger and rational picture of our life. Objects will always be there. I ask my son to bury me (ash) in the flowerpot on the balcony when I am dead that I would be an object to accompany him.
object B
object B
object B
object B
object A
object A
object A
object A
object A
spring
ambiguous
The process is open with all possibilities. We are not very sure what will come out. Surprise and accident are there. I am learning to let it go without control. And each piece is the only one with no duplication.
I once drew on the same canvas again and again, nine times in all, and finally I cover all the images in whole black on top.
It seems removing, covering and smoothing is how we treat sadness.
It is same in screen print.
summer
autumn
winter
tulip
daffodils
cat
flying
flying
Medium:
open screen printSize:
20cm*20cm
blue
red
red
yellow
green
green
secret garden
The way from my apartment to the RCA campus is across Battersea Park, which is 25 minutes walk. There is an Old English Garden in Battersea Park. All kinds of plants are blooming in different seasons. The door of this garden is hidden so it is always quiet inside. This Old English Garden becomes my secret space. It gives me joy and peace. There are many gardens and parks in London such as Kew Gardens, eight Royal Parks and many not famous gardens. In an ancient Chinese house, the living room is the first place we meet friends. The dining room is the second place for treating closer friends. The reading room and the garden is the top secret space for the most important person. This are the place where we host our spirit.
poppy
bath
raining
raining
boat
bath
tree
iris