Yanru Chen

Yanru Chen is a textile storyteller based in China and London who focuses on weave practice.

Her work is influenced by her adoration for animals- a topic she has been fascinated since her childhood, and her love of literature, with folklore. Focusing on colour, craft and storytelling, She tried to create a case of animals which help her reflect on herself. She tried to create some textile sculpture to create a ‘weird’ animal land that was filled with mystical and fantastic.

With a bachelor’s degree in interior textile design at the China Academy of Art before her studies at the RCA, Yanru has obtained a comprehensive understanding of this area. During her studies and contact with textile design, textiles can be given a new symbol and become emotional sustenance.

Her intention is to create art that offers spiritual comfort, providing viewers with strength and evoking a similar emotional experience. She with the viewers to feel embraced and supported when they look at her artwork, as if they are being comforted and empowered when they engage with it.

In pursuit of the power she never had, she used textiles as a carrier to create different animal images. She used these animals as metaphors for herself, trying to create different animals as her spiritual companions, and gave the textiles value and perception.

The topic of her work is introspection and self-questioning. The project is a lot about her childhood imaginary friend, and the image of this friend depends on the character she wants to have. She tried to imagine her animals as alter egos in a fantasy world, full of characters she doesn't have.

The purpose of the project is to address notions of loneliness as a reaction to having been raised as an only child.She use woven textile and pattern making as her main media to explore the company , emotion and self identity.She is trying to tackle her identity crisis by creating a series of imaginary creatures.Her own personal experience has greatly influenced Her work. Her work is characterized by a sense of companionship, childlike, innocence and healing, creating a unique visual language of memory, culture and story.

So She let her work rest on two poles, between cute and weird, masculine and feminine, organized and loose, relaxed and serious. She hopes that when other people watch her works, they will evoke the same memory and add their own emotions to the experience of the works she wants to express.

Through the illustration of the animals, she transferred the image as textiles by using the technique of weaving. She intends to stitch the fabric together to create costumes or some textile sculpture which creates a ‘weird’ animal land that is filled with mystical and fantastic. In her personal practice, she will try as much as possible to create a reflection of the idea that comes to her, she wants to use some strong and clear symbols to show the theme.