Xiyadie is a self-taught traditional Chinese papercut artist whose works narrate his journey of transformation and homoerotic fantasies. Xiyadie means Siberian Butterfly, a name he chose after his move to Beijing as a migrant worker in 2005, where he found an accepting community in the burgeoning gay subcultural scene. As he relates, the Siberian Butterfly is a northern creature. Surviving in the harshest conditions, it maintains its vanity and pursuit of freedom in an environment that does not lend political agency or representation to queer-identifying people.
Xiyadie presented his works in the Main Exhibition of the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, entitled “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere”. His solo exhibitions were shown at Blindspot Gallery (Hong Kong, 2024), The Drawing Center (New York, 2023), Flazh!Alley Art Studio (Los Angeles, 2012), and Beijing LGBT Center (2010), among others.Xiyadie’s works have also been shown in group exhibitions at Museude Arte de São Paulo (2024), Para Site (Hong Kong, 2024&2017), Macalline Center of Art (Beijing, 2024), ICA NYU Shanghai (2023), Kunsthal Gent (2023), Tai Kwun Contemporary (Hong Kong, 2022), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin, 2022), Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art (Warsaw, 2020), Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (2019), Taipei MOCA (2019), and Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Stockholm, 2012), among others. Xiyadie has also participated in the 33rd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts (2019) and the 12th Gwangju Biennale (2018).
His work is in the collection of KADIST (France & USA), Museum of Fine Arts Boston (USA), Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Sweden), Museu de Arte de São Paulo (Brazil), Spencer Museum of Art in the University of Kansas (USA), Sunpride Foundation (Hong Kong), and Tate Modern (UK), among others.
Xiyadie currently lives and works in Shaanxi province, China.
