YunPing Li

YunPing Li (Hubei, China, 1998) is a visual artist based in Madrid. His work focuses on self-representation of Queer and BIPOC communities through photography. He investigates the intersection between the photographic medium and performance, as well as exploring the concept of belonging in relation to the human body, physical spaces, and family ties. He is author of 回家 (huí jiā). 

Email: contact@yunpingli.com
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Work

  1. 回家 (huí jiā)
  2. Self-Portraiture Performance
  3. Mā (媽)



Self-Portraiture Performance

2023- Ongoing
In 2023, when I exhibited 回家 (huí jiā) for the first time, I began to investigate on what I have developed as “Self-Portraiture Performances,” consisting in creating self-portraits on live accompanying the exhibitions of the project. The challenge advances along the way, taking performativity further through its repetition. The act of exhibiting such an intimate process puts the private into the public; its significance is deepened by activating a “Site-Specific” intervention in the spaces where the exhibition takes place. This consists of immersing myself between the images, interacting with them and creating a final one to emphasize the multiple layers of identity. Thus, the photographs are never the culmination of a process, but rather a starting point, a performative act determined by its own repetition, the insistence on gesture and the negotiation with the gaze of the other. This hybridization of media reflects on the performativity of the photographic act and serves to integrate the dichotomies within the project (man-woman, masculinity-femininity, cis-trans, biological-adopted) by understanding that photography here functions both as a performance and its documentation. I also invite the public to participate in this “Self-Portraiture Performances”, thus blurring the boundaries of authorship and between the public and the private. By inviting visitors to participate in them, they become part of the project; this addresses the importance of the spectator in work and also discusses the influence of the external gaze in the construction of “self”, as transitioning is a collective experience.

Self-Portrait during 回家 (huí jiā) exhibition at El Local (2023)
Self-Portrait during 回家 (huí jiā) exhibition at Candy darling (2023)