B. 1990 Hunan, China.
Based in Berlin, Germany and Beijing, China.
You Gu has graduated from Beijing Film Academy in China with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in New Media Art in 2013. She is currently studying a Diploma Course in Fine Arts & Photography at Berlin University of Arts. Her works deal with questions of identity and the cultural conflicts associated with it, in transhistorical and transnational contexts. Her preferred medium of practice is photography. She uses photography as a platform for unique formal experimentation. She manipulates her photographs and creates an implied three-dimensionality, with which clear yet ominous questions are asked. At a time where information and its digitalization overturns the traditional, the familiar and perhaps the more conservative parts of society, Gu’s investigations are reminders of the sacrifices the modern person has to forgetfully make. For her latest project, she traveled through the Balkans, inspecting the sites of post-Soviet memorials. During these travels, alongside her artistic occupations, her nationality and identity also became an inseparable part of her work that reiterates the relevance and significance of her inquisitions.
“My thoughts on the issue of identity aren’t about taking offense at being mistaken for the wrong nationality, nor do I intend to accuse the prejudiced behavior towards Asians in Europe. What interests me is, rather, what lies behind the necessity felt by many to quickly to categorize one another as friend or foe through perceived identities: how we, as humans, are habitually under the influence of the ever-present political games as well as contemporary media; how we are constantly immersed in the vortex of stereotype and prejudice perhaps involuntarily; and how religions and rights’ groups can often not coexist due to a conflict of interest.”
Excerpt by You Gu, “New World” Project
Awards
2020 Studienabschluss-Stipendium des DAAD, Berlin, Germany
2018 New Media Art Triennial Academy Award, Beijing, China
2017 Honorable Mention, IBB-Preis für Photographie 2017, Berlin, Germany
地图 Map 2020, C-print on paper, diasec
30 x 40 cm, edition: 10+2AP,
85 x 113.5 cm, edition: 6+2AP
For more informations about her works.
