Liao Wen China, 1994

Liao Wen (b. 1994, Chengdu, China) currently lives and works in Shenzhen, China. Her artistic practice focuses primarily on sculpture, alongside performance and video. Inspired by the experience of making marionettes in her early career, Liao's sculptures emphasize the invisible force transferred and constrained among the joints, revealing the fragility and instability of living beings, as well as their strength and resilience in the process of resisting the former. Liao Wen's creative motifs are partly derived from the experience of the body: in the series Almost Collapsing Balance the sculptural structures suspending at a steady state suggest a similar physical and mental condition that is approaching the threshold. Another source of inspiration is her study of gender in culture: the series Rites of Seasons explores the embodiment and resonance of life cycle in female bodies and natural rhythms by unraveling seasonal rituals in women's communities. Meanwhile, in the series Poisons and Antidotes, the artist contemplates women's intricate and ambiguous roles in using natural substances that function as both poison and medicine, and traces the depiction of this history in varying power relations and cultural contexts. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Almost Collapsing Balance at Capsule Shanghai in Shanghai, China (2021); BOOMERANG-OCAT Biennale 2021 in Shenzhen, China and 2nd Women Artists International Biennial of Macao in Macao, China (2020).