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Yang Xuening

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Yang Xuening

About

2000 Born in Beijing

2022 she graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy with a degree in Chinese folk dance.

2024 she graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in MA Contemporary art practice.

Her work focuses on performance art, installation and video.Her work explores the relationship between traditional and contemporary art through performance art and video works, as well as the use of the body to explore the shaping of individual identity in the real world.

Yang Xuening

| Work Introduction

1、墨竹

Black Bamboo

Media: bamboo strips, acrylic paint, wire, Xuan paper, ink, wooden sticks
Duration: 2 minutes 59 seconds
Date:09/01/2022—10/09/2022
© Image by artist

Project Statement

The work ‘Black Bamboo’ discusses the conflict between stereotypes and selfperception. Stereotypes from other people's implicit perceptions will continue to erode the ego, and when the ego realises that the ‘appearance’ given by other people is actually lighter than expected, this cage can be easily broken. However, the individual will be mutated in the long term, and the impression from the outside world will change the state of the self, and the individual will be affected by the stereotype after all. This project uses ink bamboo as the medium of expression, and the image expresses the process of playing with stereotypes in three different states: growing, breaking, and falling. The bamboo bound by stereotypes is constantly breaking free from its fragile cage, and is powerless to escape from the threat of stereotypes.

2、孤寂

Solitude

Duration:3 minutes 25 second © Image by artist

Project Statement

People are born free, but always in the invisible shackles, with the fear and anxiety can not get rid of, perhaps some people do not struggle, just with their own shackles to live their own limited life, and constantly for the outside world's ‘attention’ and camouflage themselves, will be packaged into a perfect appearance, in the invisible lost the most real! ‘I myself’. In this work, dream and reality are blurred and entangled with each other, and the non-linear narrative presents the whole story in a scattered way, as I repeatedly jump between the ‘two selves’, seeking the so-called truth.

3、标准化生产

Standardised production

Media: Milk silk,Photographic paper,Coat hanger
Duration: 3 minutes
Date:07/06/2022—12/12/2022
© Image by artist

Project Statement

In today's advanced social media, appearance anxiety has become the most basic topic among women, and further to self-objectification and self-denial, it can be seen that women are anxious because of the over-perfected ‘female constructs’ on the Internet, and this comparative behaviour removes the subjectivity of sexuality and internalises a single ‘aesthetic standard’, which leads to ‘self-objectification’. ‘This act of comparison removes the subjectivity of sexuality and leads to the internalisation of a single standard of aesthetics, resulting in ‘self-objectification’. Public opinion is like a long line that binds women. Similarly, the pursuit of a standardised body image for female dancers in Chinese dance education is even more extreme than the ‘standard aesthetic’ on social media. Inspired by my own ten years of professional dance education, the moment I stepped into a professional institution, my body was ‘defined’ and numbers were carved into it, such as how tall I was, how long my arms were, how long my legs were, and how many proportional differences I had, in order to be more in line with the so-called ‘white, young, and thin’ aesthetic of the audience, the dancers were required to be ‘white, young, and thin’, and the dancers were required to be ‘white, young, and thin’. In order to be more in line with the so-called ‘white, young and thin’ aesthetic in the eyes of the audience, the dancer's body has been turned into a number. This project is based on the stretching and reshaping of limb fragments from oil paintings, where women retain their rounded, soft femininity, still full of glamour after the passage of time. However, the original full-bodied limbs have been stretched to a deformed state, and the so-called ‘standardised’ aesthetics of the ‘production’ has resulted in the loss of the original natural beauty of the body. Boycott body shame is to resist the ‘appearance of labelling’ mode of thinking, I detest such a deformed aesthetic, all the standards given by the outside world are imposed on each individual must have the crime, is a shackle is also a cage, is to let women lose their own bondage, each individual should be unique rather than living in a certain Each individual should be unique and not live under a certain ‘mainstream standard’, but at the same time, I was also deeply affected by this abnormal aesthetics in a subtle way, and I wanted to make a change, but I couldn't escape from it.

4、秘密通话

Secret Conversation

Media: Tents, candles, recycled paper, thermal paper
Date:01/01/2022—01/01/2023
© Image by artist

Project Statement

Since I was a child, people around me have taught me to be an honest and truthful person, but what is sincerity? A few years before his death, Wang Yangming talked about ‘Sincerity and Compassion’ and its similar expressions, which triggered a great theoretical effect. Sincerity and compassion point to the one-person benevolence, which not only gives conscience substantive criteria for judging good and evil, right and wrong, but also contains the motivation to realise its criteria, thus providing people with the motivation to turn knowledge into action, to do good and to do away with evil. I wanted to sincerely face my inner desires, and to tell my closest friends what I had never said out loud, and I used the ‘secrets of my heart’ as the basis for recording the words about the ‘bond’. I decided to use my body to create a ‘sincere language’, whether you can read my expression or not, but I dare to face my heart sincerely at this time. This project uses body movement as a form of expression, which is said to be dance movement, but this series of body movement is more like a tool, which is built on top of the Chinese characters, using the body as a tool for writing words, making the flat written expression three-dimensional, and creating a brand new way of expression using the image of body language, and the form of the exhibition, I use the tent as a medium, showing the most private inner space in the public exhibition space, and the tent is the place where I hide my secret. The tent is the place where I hide my secret, a child-like puzzle that I hope only people with ‘warm hearts’ can decipher. When this ‘secret fairy tale’ is broken down layer by layer to get the answer to the riddle, I will honestly face my own secret, and pass on my greatest sincerity to my closest people.

5、瑕疵

Blemish

Media: Gauze, Nylon, Pins, Cotton, Cloth, Paper, Yarn, Body
Duration: 5 minutes 7 seconds
Date:02/11/2022
© Image by artist

Project Statement

‘Flawed’ is a live performance artwork, combined with a wearable installation that offers a reconceptualisation of the body. The performance can start and end from any corner, with installations of varying sizes hanging from my body. As the audience slowly envelops me in music, their gaze becomes an integral part of the performance, shaping and reshaping my physical ‘form’. The improvisation echoes my emotional state, revealing my struggle to rid myself of the symbolic ‘fragment’ while retaining the real birthmark.

6、白日梦

Pipe Dream

Media: Printing, Silk thread, Paper
Date:01/02/2024
© Image by artist

Project Statement

‘Pipe dream’ is a cropped and reshaped photographic work. It is inspired by the sense of alienation I felt when I came to a strange city. I haven't lived outside of Beijing since I was born, and the sense of alienation I feel when I come to an unfamiliar city makes me feel mysterious, romantic, and at the same time a touch of fear. However, I enjoy the excitement of this uncertainty, just like a dream. I present a surreal and absurd atmosphere in my photographs; the subject whose face cannot be seen seems to be synonymous with the dream, and this sense of alienation between the synonym and the subject gives me a sense of strangeness and déjà vu in the dream. I want to use the photographs to release subconscious thoughts and images, rather than depicting dreams or hidden psychological tensions.

7、裂缝

The Crack

Media: Plastic, Paper
Date:20/03/2024
© Image by artist

Project Statement

“The Crack” reinterprets the concept of the mask through a video that combines performance art with a wearable installation. Inspired by the critique and reflection on social hypocrisy, I learnt that the concept of personality mask exists in psychology. Personality masks are images and behaviours we adopt to fit into social roles. By wearing masks, we allow our true selves to coexist in harmony with our social roles. This idea is a continuation of the previous project, Pipe Dreams. I repeatedly mould different ‘selves’ through new masks, wearing different masks for different things. I loathe the false self outside the mask, but the mask is my umbrella. This led me to connect with Nuo witches in traditional Chinese culture; Nuo witches are respected and feared, and it is said that when a jumping Nuo man puts on a mask, he can face the gods. Nuo people's face is ‘horrible’, not the traditional sense of beauty, red face, sharp eyes, and fangs. Jumping Nuo man wearing a mask becomes another role in his life, praying for wind and rain, peace and good luck. But when he takes off the mask, he returns to the life of ordinary people, back to his role. But I have been thinking, when Nuo opera masters perform Nuo opera, how many people will care about his face under the mask, will care about him is ‘who’.

8、汇合

Confluence

Media:Wig, wool, chain, lock, fabric
Duration:5 minutes
© Image by artist

Project Statement

Confluence is a performance art piece that intertwines live performance, wearable installation and video in a deeply personal way. It is the embodiment of a ritual I have crafted, the creation of my personal talisman. This ritual is not based on superstition, but is a profound expression of my personal ‘fetish’. As I wrap the locks around my hair, I attempt to dissolve the boundaries between myself and the ‘outside world’. This performance is a bold exploration of the interface between reality and unreality, sparking a discussion about the interaction of objects and emotions.

9、入场

Intro

Project Statement

Intro is a new exploration of the relationship between dance and video, and a retrospective of my personal dance experience. The work not only symbolises the ritual of the audience's entrance, but also points to the countless moments in which I have appeared on stage as a performer. Through the fusion of video and dance, I try to redefine the way this fleeting and dynamic art exists in another medium.
Dance is fluid and fleeting; it is attached to time and space and is a momentary expression. However, video captures and frames these moments in another way, transforming them into forms that can be revisited and reinterpreted. In my work, I edit and collage dance footage from my growing up process, and add experimental images of non-linear narratives. This deconstruction not only gives a contemporary flavour to the original traditional dance images, but also extends the meaning of dance from a mere physical performance to a profound reflection on time, memory and identity.
When the audience steps into this space, what they see is not only the past and present of my body, but also a possibility of how dynamic art can dialogue with a fixed medium. These images transcend personal experience and become a universal symbol, exploring the relationship between art and memory, and revealing how our bodies construct meaning in time.
In this process, I am not only reflecting on how dance has shaped me, but also trying to re-conceptualise the meaning of the stage. It is both the end point of a performance and the beginning point where emotions and memories are rewritten. This kind of repeated construction and deconstruction is perhaps where the charm of art lies. From the stage to the image, from the immediate to the eternal, art leaves eternity in the twinkling of an eye, and memory is reborn in the midst of fragmentation.

10、我的眼睛

My Eyes

Project Statement

‘My Eyes’ is an exploration of perspective and a dialogue between the world and myself. This group of photographs records the landscapes and humanities that I observe through the lens, they are the world in my eyes and a reflection of my heart. In these images, I try to capture the texture of the world, the moments that are easily overlooked, the silence that lurks in the hustle and bustle, and the profundity of the everyday.
For me, ‘photo’ is a way of looking at the world, but also a way of looking at myself. I use the lens to narrow the distance between me and the world, but I also use the lens to widen my horizons, so that I can re-examine these familiar yet unfamiliar landscapes and people. In this process, the perspective is no longer just a tool for observation, but a medium of communication, a link between the inner and outer worlds. These images are not just pure records, but in a sense they become an extension of my emotions and consciousness, showing how a present ‘I’ confronts and intermingles with an infinite ‘world’.
‘My Eyes’ also expresses a reflection on diversity and subjectivity. Everyone has his or her own perspective, and these perspectives are interwoven into countless understandings of the world. Rather than simply presenting the ‘real’, this group of works emphasises the complexity of viewing itself. Every time I press the shutter release, there are choices and trade-offs, how I look at the present moment and how I define meaning. This kind of subjective viewing is the core of the moment I press the shutter, and also the soul of this group of works.
Through ‘My Eyes’, I hope that the viewer will not only stay on the surface of the image, but also feel a collision of perspectives and inspiration from these images. I invite you to stand in my place and see the world through my eyes, but more importantly, to awaken your own perspective and rethink your relationship with the world. This is not only my personal perspective, but also an open invitation to diversity.

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