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
CV
Instagram

Work

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


Mā(媽)    

                                                                                                     

Ongoing research



I belong to the first generation of people internationally adopted from China to Spain during the 2000s. Mā (媽) is a visual project centred on the search for my biological mother through her recreation via myself, with the aim of rethinking and challenging the idea of the family photo album. Through self-portraiture, characterisation, and staging, I seek to generate a photographic archive of my biological mother, intertwining research and imagination, reality and fiction.  The title refers to the affectionate way of addressing one’s mother in Chinese, which coincides with the colloquial English and Spanish term ma' (and, likewise, with the term 媽 媽 Māma, meaning “mother”).

The project is situated within the historical context of China’s one-child policy, implemented between 1979 and 2015 as a measure of demographic control. As a result, between 1980 and 2014, 324 million intrauterine devices were fitted, 108 million sterilisations were carried out, and more than 330 million abortions were performed. Around two million girls were abandoned; approximately 120,000 of them were ultimately adopted by foreign families. In Spain, close to 18,000 adoptions took place.

As a trans man, I am interested in exploring the image of my pregnant body and its relationship to femininity; and as an adopted person, I wish to create an archive and a memory of my origins. I propose to question the dominant narrative of adoption, constructed primarily by adoptive families and adoption agencies: a narrative which begins with the formation of a new family while overlooking the losses that precede it. I consider it essential to speak of that loss and of separation: from the biological family, from the community, from the language, and from the culture of origin. I aim to contribute to the destigmatisation of adoption and, with it, of the maternal figure, demonised for abandoning her baby.


Chinese Passport (2000)


"Chinese Passport refers to one of the legal procedures involved in carrying out an international adoption. More specifically, it is the document that adoptive parents complete during their visit to the country where the adoption will take place. This document allows them to stay there and officially reflects the legality of the adoption process."
Adoption Data Sheet (1998)