(SUBMITTED PHOTO) Liu Yang places objects between photographic paper and lights, and exposes it to create pieces like “Galaxy”
LISA NELSON RAABE
Two talented photographers from China, husband and wife Qingjun Huang and Liu Yang, arrived in Peoria in March 2022. Finding Peoria a very livable city, they are building their artistic connections in the U.S. from here. This fall their work is featured at the Peoria Art Guild and the Contemporary Art Center.
Both artists work in photographic medium but in different ways. In “Another Planet,” photograms of dream landscapes on large scale panels were exhibited at the Peoria Art Guild in September. Liu Yang’s photograms are created in a photographic dark room, but images are not captured by a camera. Objects are placed between photographic paper and lights, and then exposed. Details of the forms soften, deform and cast ghostly shadows created through movement during the exposure. Liu Yang uses transparent photo mediums on glass and acrylic plates and lets them mix naturally to create patterns. Self-modified lights and multiple exposures augment particular colors and outlines. Her intense preparation and large scale can take several days.
Liu focuses on interior imagery, at times cloudy and indistinct. Her work is subjective and highlights her fascination with cosmic themes, imagination of the future, and concern for the fate of humanity. Guild Curator John Heintzman wrote “Her unique approach to process and her ability to explore the unconscious are evident. These experiments with photograms have catapulted her to the center of Surrealism in photography.” Liu’s intent is to challenge us to feel how tiny each of us and human civilization actually are. She challenges the viewer to think and see beyond the everyday into the possibility of other worlds and experiences.
(SUBMITTED PHOTO) Qingjun Huang documents life in China.
Qingjun Huang works in documentary photography and is no stranger to capturing the intimate personal lives of ordinary Chinese. In 2003, he embarked on the first of several projects recording the possessions of people across China. The overall project series — called “Jia Dang” or “Family Stuff” — has taken him across a multitude of provinces for nearly two decades. Varied projects have focused on Online Shoppers, Homeless People, Heritage Inheritors and their worldly goods. In the latest installment of his project, Mr. Huang has turned his lens on people who make their living from live streaming, including their environments and the elements they use in their broadcasts.
(SUBMITTED PHOTO) Qingjun Huang documents life in China.
The Contemporary Art Center exhibition “Qingjun Huang: Housed/Unhoused” further explores the interplay of interior and exterior, and the comparison of permanent and more temporary shelter. Qingjun Huang’s work comments on the changing middle class in China, how people and possessions describe who we are and how we function. Curator William Butler states “A selection from both series will be placed side by side in the gallery in diptych format. All kinds of conclusions can be made from this documentation.”
Liu Yang and Qingjun Huang are currently building their studio and each has plans to continue with photographic projects. It will prove interesting to see how relocating to the United Sates impacts each of these artist’s work.
Qingjun Huang: Housed/Unhoused is on view Nov. 4-
Dec. 17 at The Contemporary Art Center, 305 SW Water St., Peoria, IL 61602.
Go to www.peoriacac.org
or huangqingjun.com or
yangliuphoto.com