Mo Yi

RED is a collection of 193 C-prints and digital C-prints on archival paper, contained in an acrylic box designed by the artist. The C-prints are selected from 5 major series on the theme of “red” (1997-2007), including The Scenery in Red (1997), Red Telegraph Pole (1997), Red Flash – I am a Dog (2003), Takako’s Red Dress – Walking Across Beijing (2004) and Lorient with Red Flashlight – About the German Base and Spanish Fortress There (2007). On the other hand, the digital C-prints are selected from the artist’s extensive image archive of historical incidents and daily sceneries related to “red” starting from the 1980s, through which the artist reflects on the Chinese’s cultural conditioning, symbolic meaning and historical usage of the colour “red”. With a background of ardent socio-political conviction, the artist uses this ubiquitous colour to perform his relationality to Chinese society and history.

The sprawling photo installation, titled 5.16 Notice (2017), consists of 52 found images of the Cultural Revolution. Each photo represents one year’s passing, starting from 1966, when the Communist Party of China issued the 5.16 Notice and marked the official beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Centred in each image is the year number, painted in red acrylic, while around the periphery, the artist scribbles “5.16” as a painstaking reminder of the subject. As a performative gesture on a living and open work, the artist will create and paint a new image every year until the Party apologises for her role in initiating and inciting the turmoil that gripped the country for a decade.

Be it the distorted profiles of city dwellers in series My Illusory City and Street Face, the lack of individuality in the hectic city life in series Tossing Bus China, Images Through a Dog’s Mind, or the artist’s self-portraits in series Me in My Surroundings, Mo Yi’s works depict the alienation of individuals against a backdrop of rapid urbanization. Often shot from unexpected angles, the photographs are provocative in their ambiguity and embody the artist’s cry against the repressive existence in Chinese society.