Yijia Wu

Yijia Wu (b. 1997, China) is a multidisciplinary artist based in London. She graduated from Central Saint Martins with First Class Honours in BA Fine Art in 2021 and is currently completing her MA studies in Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art.

Wu's practice explores the fluid notion of home and the sense of unsettlement and dislocation she experienced as a migrant. Through installation, writing and performance, she utilises mundane, often domestic materials to create paradoxical situations. By drawing references from the cultural meanings embedded in these objects, Yijia weaves together a narrative that portrays her journey and the story of being a migrant.

Upcoming Exhibition:

2023 Home Away From Home, House of Annetta, London, UK

Selected Exhibitions:

2023 No Man’s Land, A.P.T. Gallery, London, UK

2023 Cozy Ganza, Avalon Cafe, London, UK

2023 Tate Late, Tate Modern, London, UK

2023 Beyond Surface, Montez Radio, London, UK

2022 Bon Voyage, Slash Art, London, UK

2022 Home / Away, The Bhavan, London, UK

2022 BODY ECSTATIC BODY ECLECTIC BODY ECCENTRIC, Ulay Foundation, Slovenia

2021 What Have We Done?, Lethaby Gallery, London, UK

2020 Sale, Tate Modern, London, UK

2019 Open Mouth Film Festival, TT Cinema, London, UK

2019 I Dance the Other, Studio Wayne McGregor, London, UK

2018 Young Modulus, The Crypt Gallery, London, UK

2018 Improvisation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

2016 1-100, Pangolin Gallery, London, UK

AWARDS:

2021 NOVA Award 2021 (shortlisted)

2021 CASS Art Prize 2021 (shortlisted)

2021 Barry Martin Prize 2021 (Shortlisted)

COLLECTION:

2021 98 Miles Apart, University of the Arts London Collections

(Image credit: Emily Seagrove)

A metal kite lies on the floor, walls made from soap tiles, dispersed half-sliced stone eggs, a stone pear with a silver spoon s

Wu's practice is shaped by her migration journey since childhood. Through installation, performance, writing, and moving image, she explores the ever-shifting notions of home and the fragmented nature of memories. These memories not only reflect our transient experiences of the past and present but also refract them, prompting Wu to explore their functions in how we construct our sense of identity through a process of continual uprootedness, both in terms of time and place.

In her recent work, Wu delves into the cultural significance embedded within ordinary objects from our daily lives, investigating the fluidity of memory. By utilizing materials and objects such as soap, stone, pear, egg, kite, and bed frames, she reexamines the symbolic and cultural meanings associated with each medium. Through this process, Wu creates a language that is absurd yet familiar, nostalgic yet present.

A metal kite lies on the floor,

walls made from soap tiles,

dispersed half-sliced stone eggs,

a stone pear with a silver spoon stem,

a bow made from a bed frame sits silently in the corner,

a 3-meter tall, thin ladder with a gap cut in the middle leans on the wall as if attempting to grow into the ceiling,

a metal knot waits to be untied,

and three stone-carved houses rest on soft materials,

a space filled with nothing that makes sense,

a situation yet to resolve,

memories filled into every gap of time.

Image credit: Emily Seagrove

"A Pear is not a Pair" is a hand-carved alabaster stone sculpture in the shape of a pear, with a stem made from a vintage spoon. The piece reflects the artist's personal experience as a migrant in the UK and delves into the symbolic meanings attached to the pear in two distinct cultures. In the artist's own culture, sharing a pear between two people is believed to bring separation, due to the homophonic relationship between the word "pear" and "separate". Through the use of stone, a permanent material, the artist creates a paradoxical representation of an object that is both sharable and unshareable. By incorporating the spoon stem, the piece extends an invitation to viewers to share the pear, yet simultaneously acknowledges the vulnerability of relationships and the inevitability of separation.