Can you introduce yourself to our readers? Why did you decide to express yourself mostly through performance?

I was born in Shanghai and am now based in London. I work within both visual art and performance, my work is presented collectively by incorporating trace making, video and live performance into my practice. I am very interested in recording movements, which take the form of paintings or large mixed media marks. I worked in fashion and graphic design companies before coming to London to study at the Royal College of Art. Performance was something I had never tried but it instantly felt instinctual to me. Performing through movement is an immediate form of expression and an extension of the mind. I am fascinated by how thoughts and emotions can be communicated through the body and the physical space that surrounds it. Becoming an artist is something that’s always made sense to me, it became a way of seeking my own truth and understanding how to connect with the world.

What are your main inspirations? And how do they influence your work?

During the process of creating, my performance draws from a variety of inspirations such as traditional Chinese mythology, Neo-expressionist dance tradition (Tanztheater), and sometimes even Sci-fi narratives. My piece “LOVE” was developed from the trace work I created, influenced by the childhood game of tug of war, as well as the myth of the Chinese love god ‘Yue Lao’, who links people’s emotions with a thread. Inspired by this, movements are shaped from a gesture of ‘pulling’ and then developed with my performance collaborator Josh Woolford to explore the journey of conflict and compatibility in intimate relationships. Bodies – action and reaction – express the energy of Yin and Yang. Love exists in different types of relationships that weave us tightly. Beyond the physically, love is a universal exchange that bonds us profoundly. Another work “DNA – Beyond The Body”, is inspired by the Pisces Jade Pendant – an urban story of a time and material over a distance transmission device, that questioned the time and existence of a being in China in the 1980s. My interpretation of its legend developed into a performance with a moving body and a light installation. By mirroring my body in the software and tracing the shape of its motions, I animated a digital pattern of infinite mirrored bodies of myself. The live performance of “DNA” has evolved during the process as well. From the first time I performed it at the “Diasporas Now” event in Cambridge (in collaboration with soundscape by composer Zhenyan Lee) to 180 strand reference point (in collaboration with outfits by fashion designer Olubiyi Thomas, Soundscape by sound artist Ijeoma Uzokwu aka Sasoraye, and Live Chinese instrument played by performer Xianrong Lee). “DNA” brings a fantasy of being in a virtual space as well as bringing the energy that has been absorbed from every moment of our existence, seeking the power of self-actualisation.