10 Questions with Xinyu Gao

Xinyu Gao is a visual artist and photographer who specializes in fine art photography and experimental images. After graduating from University College London, her photography projects and research have been exhibited in several international exhibitions and festivals, including the London Design Festival, and scholar forums such as the Beijing International Film Festival Young Scholars Forum.

xinyugaovisual.cargo.site | @junemachineflorey

ARTIST STATEMENT

Xinyu is obsessed with the visibility and invisibility of aesthetic and cultural diversity.

From the sensitivity of senses and aesthetic pursuits, she is inspired by echoes from pictorialism in her initial creation and constantly pricked from the perception of embodied senses, experience, emotion, and memory.

As she breaks the boundaries of specific categories, her work has been exploring the ways of seeing in an era of attention and spectacle, keeping changing the point of view from viewfinders to conversation, from scenes to thingness, and rethinking the way of seeing in an era surrounded by multiple screens, surround interfaces and seamless media, and the way of existence in an accelerating media world.

Snow Field Variation 01, Photography, 2023 © Xinyu Gao
*In the early morning after the snow, mountains and clouds, herdsmen, cattle and sheep, snow willows and eagles together compose snow field variations.*

INTERVIEW

Please introduce yourself to our public. Who are you, and how did you develop into the artist you are today? What experiences and training helped you grow your art practice?

My name is Xinyu, meaning words from hearts. I play and experiment with images, and I attempt to explore dimensions from and beyond visuals and senses. I used to describe myself as an automatic sensitive viewfinder.
In my journey to unseen stories, I am obsessed with the conception of visibility and invisibility. My further concern is the inability and weakness of photography, media, and communication, similar to the condition when you encounter a breathtaking scene, and you want to focus and press the shutter but find what in front of you is an endless haze that could never be caught and presented in photography.
Apart from my painting memory in childhood and photography practice at college, I am also directly influenced by my study experience in humanities, especially anthropology and media study. Rooted in the pure pursuit of aesthetics, led by open vision and invisible details, I always hope to create something interesting, in the background of humanistic care and diverse minds.

East Coast Ride, Curtain, Photography, 2023 © Xinyu Gao
This concept photography series constructs the landscape based on the shading and shaping of memory. From the most familiar places in sensory perception rooted in daily experience, images reach the geographical and environmental atmosphere, with distant and intimate, obscure and detailed, alienated and mutual touch, to present the perception of memory in emotional structures and aesthetic atmosphere.

East Coast Ride, Freedom, Photography, 2023 © Xinyu Gao

You primarily work as a photographer; what inspired you to choose this medium? And what does it represent for you?

I still remember once my friend asked me what I wanted to do if I lived again. I answered her without hesitation for one second: I would like to take photos! However, I never think about this question about how I encounter and create with photography. It seems like everything happened so naturally.
I guess there is no unique answer to this question. Initially, I was attracted by the powerful and beautiful moments captured with my eyes as a viewfinder, driven by constant sensitivity and pure joy, as well as a perfect conversation with myself and an extremely introverted heart. At an early age, I always play with myself instead of actively connecting to the outside world. After painting for years, I got my first camera and found a magic path to aesthetic dreams. Everything started in the summertime, with multiple filters and the classic ACDsee icon.
I never treat photography as a specific type of media, and the conception of media is in the dynamic transformation and emergency. There is no limitation for me; this choice is personally limited by my experience and attempts. If I have to find some attributes of photography, I would mention the basic magic that connects reality and imagination, feeling and presentation. I am open to every possibility of creation and hope someday I will touch other magic.
It is extremely difficult to describe what photography means to me. My current perception is the way of seeing and touching the world, and all related to perspectives and possibilities.
One side of sensitivities is fragility in front of the dark side. In recent years, after graduating from college, my experience in reality has suffered and makes me fall in anxiety and a period that even hardly feel any joy in daily life. When my heart was made of glass broken one million times, photography is a cure, a treasure. I am lucky enough to play with images in a continuously accelerating media era.

East Coast Ride, Pinky Road, Photography, 2023 © Xinyu Gao

Your work as a photographer delves into experimental images, exploring "the visibility and invisibility of aesthetic and cultural diversity," as you mention in your statement. Can you share more about what drew you to this theme and how you translate it into your photographic practice?

I grew up in an environment similar to an assembly line for standardized reality and the future, while I am lucky enough to remain sensitive when living inside the machines. I sense things behind and beyond the silence, and I care about every individual in detail, instead of painted appearance or grand narrative that aura and vitality are struggling. Studying and experiencing the humanities cultivates my vision of cultural diversity and universal love. All the pursuits of aesthetics and diversity lead me to unheard voices.
My sensory perception and embodied experience inspire my initial practice to sense, percept, observe, and touch. Further fieldwork takes me to a further world and trains the ability to explore in-depth themes. Meanwhile, the process of academic research in anthropology and media study at college influenced me to develop critical thinking.
The most essential thing is to keep the sensitivity, instinct, and insight forever, and keep the initial hope, no matter what kind of approaches.

How do you approach capturing and representing diversity in your photography? And what considerations do you take into account when navigating issues of visibility and invisibility?

Photography is the easiest and the most difficult at the same time. I personally don't think there is an approach to it without being fully hearted enough to live a life, sense, feel, and touch. I treasure all the magic and true spirit that occurred in images.
Never stooped in the mainstream and standardized directions, I always embrace different perspectives, and the approach to diversity is all about care for individuals, a heart of true emotion, and understanding in unbounded and universal love.
The concepts around visibility and invisibility come to me during my journey to unseen stories, while for me, it is just one scale of the way we see and the way we feel the world. I long to encounter extensions in scales and dimensions beyond visuals and senses.

In your work, you also tackle a vast array of different themes, from queer communities, to contemporary society and also landscapes. What stories or narratives do you aim to convey through these images?

It is true that my current pieces look like traces influenced and led by senses, perception, emotion, and reflection.
In general, no matter what the conception it is and comes from, observation, participation, or speculation, leaving all the space and possibilities for images is always my pursuit. I insist on the belief that 'images speak for themselves'. There is no need for interpretation and translation; self-telling is the true attribute of images.
Close-up eyes, intimate details, and empathy from scenes to thingness, to all the contributors, influence my personal, micro, and emotional storytelling as a fight against the grand and void environment.

As an artist, how do you navigate the balance between artistic expression and ethical considerations, particularly when representing marginalized communities?

This is truly a core issue for me since I tried one documentary film project with queer artists years ago. For related projects, the relationship with contributors has always been the most precious part of my life, as well as in the creative journey. I am honored that I am able to enjoy dynamic relations with individuals and communities and get nurtured from the beginning of my life with their support and love. For me, there is no possibility to express art without our mutual honesty and trust. I always share the images with them for feedback and adjustments.
The ethnic training at college in courses related to anthropology fieldwork for documentary image making contributed to my self-demand in ethics, though in reality, the situation is variable. For a long period, I have struggled with my exploration and exposure to presented stories that would cause unexpected inconvenience to my contributors and the communities, while their love is inclusive and unbounded.

In what ways do you think photography can challenge or subvert conventional notions of visibility and invisibility, especially regarding cultural and queer identities

This is really a philosophical question. I will attempt to organize my thoughts.
Photography sparks through moments. Trust, understanding, and love between creators and contributors nurture stories in front of cameras. The image acts to reveal the spirit of humans and non-humans, from true life behind appearances, through in-depth interaction and close-ups.
Every soul is unique; we just insist on the belief that we should embrace our differences and diversity. Conventional aspects are usually directed to rigid values, influenced by media discourse and agenda adjustment. The current algorithm-driven content environment also reflects deeper concern in visibility and invisibility, as well as potential monopoly and extreme value.
The vitality and insights rooted in cultural diversity are based on true emotions of understanding between creators and contributors; photography invites viewers to infinite space to resist the reproduction of creation. Humans need imagination and possibility.

Scenic Poem, Photography, 2020 © Xinyu Gao
*The Scenic Poem comes from wabi-sabi, a traditional Japanese aesthetics In the silent rock and invisible water drops. The heart is full of acceptance of transience and imperfection.*

Scenic Poem 3, Photography, 2020 © Xinyu Gao

What role do you believe photography plays in shaping social perceptions and understanding cultural diversity?

It's not only about the instinctive touch evoked through the presentation, discovered issues, and echoed stories, but the critical perspective and how we inspire new thoughts and concepts. The intimate and deep vision makes moments embodied through personal emotion instead of grand stories and fake reproduction to enhance mutual understanding.
Beyond the vision of an image creator, currently, the communications channels and platforms, as to the general visual landscape, are even more crucial, regarding the surface surrounded by screens, shaped by social media and driven by algorithms. The issue of photography communication in contemporary visual land is serious for me, which is another aspect of 'invisibility', and influences my interest in following projects to some extent.

Looking ahead, what new directions or themes are you interested in exploring through your experimental photography in the future?

As mentioned above, I am curious about some observations that are hardly concrete. Back to the following projects, as to themes, apart from the long-time focus on exploration of the untold stories of individual and cultural diversity, in recent months, I gradually realized my interest in contemporary social trauma, based on observation of individual anxiety and depression, from my own experience.
Besides these specific symptoms, the confusion in how the sense of time-space changed and was influenced by media attracts me.
Without limitation of content, I also hope to continue my experiments with diverse media and present comprehensive fine art projects.

Lastly, is there one project or series you are working on that will come to life in 2024?

I am lucky to get the interview opportunities with you at the beginning of 2024!
I am currently developing my conception project, 'WindFall,' with a draft shaped during my study in London years ago. The presentation can be really flexible, in a photo book or for themed exhibitions.
This project explores the ordinary secrets and secret ordinariness in stills of everyday life and the existence of pieces influenced by how the way of seeing changed in the era of attention and spectacle.
As the viewfinder turns from scenes to thingness, this series could be regarded as a fight against society gradually shaped by accelerationism. Escaping, retreating, seeking and hiding into the details of everyday life, by breaking the speed and concreteness, texture and image, the image seeks to immerse and resist the ever-increasing sense of temporal tension and information implosion through perception, in softness and sharpness.
I am confused about this alternative way between photography and collage, especially when it comes to its unusual possibilities of display. Enjoying the sharpness and softness on the same surface, but it easily falls into the boringness of format. I wish I could keep experimenting and share it with you in the near future.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.

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