5 things to know about Yin Xiuzhen

Through her immersive installations and sculptures, often constructed using found and secondhand items from clothing to household objects, she brings forth personal stories and collective experiences of our increasingly global societies.

As we get set to host an exhibition of her seminal projects and new commissions at the Hayward Gallery (17 Feb – 3 May) in the first major UK survey of her work, here’s an introduction to the artist; five things to know about Yin Xiuzhen.

The changes and shifts of Beijing have influenced her work

Born and raised in Beijing, Yin has witnessed the city’s unprecedented transformation, from the political reign of Mao Zedong of the Chinese Communist Party, through to its current period of large-scale modernisation. The rapid architectural development of China’s capital has seen mass demolitions as huge tower blocks replace traditional houses, buildings and hutongs (alleyways). Yin herself was forced to move her studio around the city a number of times.

Though Yin’s work may be specific to Beijing, it reflects complexities, tensions and feelings brought about by urban modernisation across the world. As Yin explains: ‘Audiences outside China have a different take on my work because they didn’t grow up with the same background. There may be something they don’t understand but they can relate to it in another way. They form their own personal connection to my work from their own background.’

Textiles have been a constant thread in her life

Yin’s interest in clothing and textiles begins with her mother who worked in a garment factory. New clothes were a rarity in China’s planned economy, but every Chinese New Year, to mark the special occasion, she would purchase new fabric and make Yin and her siblings a new item of clothing on her small home sewing machine. She would also buy fabric scraps – a factory perk for employees, which Yin would experiment with making her own garments, although they rarely fitted. 

Dress Box (1995) was Yin’s first work to feature used clothing. The piece contains garments worn by the artist from childhood through to adulthood, each carefully folded and stitched along the seams. They were then placed into an old dress box made by her father, and sealed with concrete. Yin has gone on to feature used clothing in multiple works, such as her Portable Cities series, the earliest pieces of which were handcrafted by her mother.

Her work is a family affair

Yin’s practice has long involved collaboration and community that starts with family. Her mother, whose involvement was instrumental in Yin’s early works, continues to assist – including in aspects of Portable Cities, and other members of her immediate family have also become part of the process. ‘Even though they don’t necessarily understand what they are making, we sit together and chat, something that I feel embodies what kinship is,’ Yin told ArtAsia Pacific.

This spirit of collaboration has extended to Yin’s husband, fellow artist Song Dong. Their ongoing collaborative series The Way of the Chopsticks sees Yin and Song independently create one half of a sculptural chopstick, revealing and joining them only at the point of installation – a symbol of their enduring partnership. In 2013, their daughter Song ErRui, then aged ten, joined the tradition, contributing her own Third Chopstick.

Portable City: London features clothes that once belonged to Southbank Centre staff

As Yin started travelling more as an artist, she found herself spending more time in airports. She would watch the suitcases on the conveyor belts, wondering who they belonged to and what might be inside, thinking of each suitcase as a miniature temporary home. Yin subsequently brought this idea to life in her Portable Cities series.

For her new commission Portable City: London, a donation box for used clothes was placed in the Southbank Centre staff office. Yin feels that by collecting used clothes worn by inhabitants of the city, she is connecting more deeply to the lived experiences of locals and their livelihoods. The donated clothes were then sent to Yin who used them to craft her new work, which depicts London, not as a replica, but as an impression, capturing the artist’s personal feelings of the city.

The standard rules of ceramics are broken

As a student at Beijing’s Capital Normal University Yin trained primarily in oil painting. She has no background in ceramics, but inspired by a trip to Jingdezhen – China’s ‘porcelain capital’ – she began to experiment with the medium.  Determined to challenge conventions, upon being told that iron contamination is a huge taboo in ceramics as it causes defects in the works, Yin’s first reaction was to put an iron ruler directly inside her creation before firing.

Continuing this spirit of experimentation Yin’s glass works Ripple Stress see the artist fire fruits into the glass; in Blending Instruments she includes objects like knives and mirrors in the clay, and in Wall Instruments she adds her signature material, used clothing. These ‘foreign’ objects cause the porcelain to crack and surfaces to fracture – a battle of materials, with imprints and traces left visibly behind.