Zhuo Yao

Zhuo Yao ( b.1994) is a Chinese artist based in London and Suzhou. Her artwork Ink-Rhyme (Chinese:墨韵) was collected by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron in 2019; the artwork Embroidery (Chinese:绣) was collected in the Chinese Silk Museum in 2022.

姚卓（生于1994年）是一位居住在伦敦和苏州的中国籍艺术家。她的艺术作品《墨韵》于2019年被法国总统马克龙及其夫人收藏；作品《绣》于2022年被收藏于中国丝绸博物馆。

Academic Achievement

2021 - 2023 Royal College of Art – MA Sculpture

2013 - 2017 California State of University, Long Beach – BFA Graphic Design

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023: Hung, Drawn and Quartered, Standpoint Gallery, London UK

2023: Rush to the Wilderness, M P Birla Millennium Art, London UK

2023: The Fading Spaciousness, Bargehouse Gallery, London UK

2022: London Craft Week, OXO Tower Wharf, London UK

2022: Sustainable China, the 20th Anniversary of the London Design Festival, London UK

2021: The Way of Craft, the First Su Zhou Craft Biennial, Suzhou China

2019: Jinxiu Zhonghua, the National Art Museum of China, Beijing China

Zhuo Yao focuses on the continuous disappearance and conflict of cultural identity and heritage in the present day. She utilizes the ancient craft of Su-embroidery ( Chinese: 苏绣) as her main artistic technique, considering the traces of needles and threads as carriers of life and time. Her works delve into the issues of homogenization and marginalization of folk culture and artistic forms, while constantly seeking to explore and push the boundaries between art and craftsmanship.

姚卓关注文化认同和文化遗产在当下的不断消失和冲突。她以古老的苏绣技艺为主要艺术创作手法，将针线的痕迹视为生命和时间的载体。作品深入探讨民间文化和艺术形式的同质化和边缘化问题，并试图不断的探索和突破艺术与工艺之间的界限。

Launch Project

Embroider《繍》

Link: https://youtu.be/8fBrJ2kkep0

Video: 08’28”, Color, PAL

Shotting in 2021

Reediting in 2023

The character '糸' refers to silk thread, and '肃' represents 'thousands of needles and holes'. When the characters '糸' and '肃' combine, they form the character '繍', which symbolizes 'using a needle with silk thread to thread thousands of stitches on cloth'. Embroidery, as a traditional handicraft skill, has been passed down and developed through family lineage since ancient times. However, with the prevalence of the textile industry and the loosening of family bonds in modern society, the traditional structure of inheritance has been shaken and challenged. This change forces embroiderers to grapple with the conflict between individualistic values and the preservation of diverse cultural heritage.

In the video artwork, the participants are two women from a traditional embroidery family: the artist herself, Zhuo Yao, and her grandmother, Zhu Xiaomei. They pass needles and threads through each other's fingers, treating their hands as the fabric for embroidery. The absence of actual fabric in the video directly transfers the aesthetic concerns of embroidery onto the survival of embroidery culture. Moreover, the transmission of skills and knowledge between two generations should have been a cultural inheritance, but now it has turned into a form of pain and torment.

The artist attempts to tear apart the deceptive facade of traditional culture, which appears to be 'prosperous', and directly points out the contradictions through this work. The aim is to bring all those deeply involved people into a state of introspection and self-reflection through sharp yet silent questioning.

“糸”指丝线，“肃”为“千针万孔”,当“糸”与“肃”联合起来时表示“用针带丝线，在布帛上千针万孔地穿引”。刺绣作为一项传统手工技艺自古以来以家族模式为核心概念传承开展至今。而随着纺织工业的普遍化，和家族观念在当下社会的松动，固有的传承结构受到了动摇。这种改变迫使刺绣者挣扎于个人主义价值观与多元文化保存之间的博弈中。

在影像作品中，参演者即是传统刺绣世家中的两位女性（艺术家本人姚卓与其奶奶朱小妹）。她们将针线穿过对方手指，这一行为是将刺绣之手当成了刺绣之布。布料的缺席直接将刺绣的美学问题转移到了刺绣文化的生存之上。隔代人之间的技艺和知识传授本应是一种文化的传承，而现在则变相成为了一种疼痛和折磨。艺术家试图通过这件作品撕破传统文化看似“繁荣”的虚假表象，直指其中的矛盾，以一种锋利而无声的质问将所有深陷其中的人都带入到了一种内观和自省之中。

Screenshots

In Collaboration with:

Ying Wang

Boudoir《闺阁》

Material: Steel, Polypropylene plastic, Collection of different embroidery fabrics

Size: 2.1 x 2.2M

2022 - 2023

Boudoir ( Chinese: 闺阁) is an art action project initiated by Zhuo Yao in 2022, in collaboration with a group of female artisans from her hometown. Without any fixed paradigm, Zhuo invited local embroidery practitioners and their family members to freely create embroidered works with the theme of butterflies, which is one of the fundamental patterns in Chinese embroidery. The project also includes activities such as documenting, purchasing, and interviews. To date, over 130 embroidered pieces have been collected, and the project is still ongoing.

The term "闺阁" originally referred to a secluded space in ancient Chinese society, exclusively for women's private residence and social interactions. It served as a living area and a place for socialization and learning. Within the limited confines of this space, embroidery became an essential way for women to pursue self-expression and self-value recognition at that time (Fig. 01). It was also a crucial criterion for measuring the individual value of women in ancient society.

Embroidery, throughout various cultures and historical periods, has consistently been seen as a realm of knowledge predominantly driven by women, serving as a positive constructive cultural expression within female communities. Nevertheless, as society evolves, the art of embroidery also faces the peril of technological disruption and eventual disappearance, gradually diminishing its inherent ability to thrive and progress.

The artist revisits this cultural realm, focusing on the collective heritage, through extensive stitching and mending actions, aiming to reshape the non-existent BOUDOIR space and the prosperity of the associated craftsmanship within it. She stitches together the collected 74 embroidered pieces into a massive curtain, using each vibrant individual piece as a means to explore the impact of social transformation on traditional cultural craftsmanship and the shifting roles of women in the spheres of family, society, and culture.

《闺阁》是2022年起姚卓与家乡女性手工艺群体共同进行的一项艺术行动。在没有固定范式的前提下，邀请当地刺绣从业者和其家属自由创作以“蝶”为主题的刺绣作品（蝶为中国刺绣基础纹样之一），并进行跟踪记录、收购和访谈等行为。至今已收集到绣片超过130片，并且行动仍在持续进行中。

“闺阁”一词原指中国古代社会中一个与外界隔离并仅限女性出入的封闭空间，这不仅是女性的私人居住区域也是她们的社交、学习场所。在这个有限的范围内，刺绣成为当时女性追求自我表达和价值认同的重要方式（图.01），也是古代社会衡量女性个体价值的标准之一。

在不同文化和时代中，刺绣一直被视为以女性群体为主导的知识领域，一种良性的同性文化构建。而随着社会的变迁，刺绣文化在当下开始面临断层和消失并逐渐丧失原有的生长能力。作者再次聚焦于这个群体文化，试图通过大量的缝合和修补的动作，再塑不存在的闺阁空间和文化技艺的繁荣景象。她将收集到的74片绣片缝合为一整面巨大隔帘，透过其中每一个鲜活的个体，试图探讨社会变迁对传统技艺以及女性在家庭、社会和文化中角色变化所带来的影响。