MENGLI QI
Mengli Qi was born in Nanjing, China 1989. She graduated with a BFA in painting (2011) from RISD and finished her MFA degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art (2015). Her work was exhibited in the Nanjing Contemporary Art Exhibition(2011). She is currently living and working in New York. Her recent project was published in Art and Protest in Brooklyn Rail. Her illustrated book Yu Wen has been covered in main Chinese media, including Sina.collection.com and the Observer.
The project focuses on the research and remaking of Chinese publications in modern and contemporary history. I am interested in visual narrative and modern cinema. Lian Huan Hua and propaganda posters have been chosen as the medium to express a new narrative, collected through personal experiences. Lian Huan Hua, propaganda posters and particular paper publications suggest a haunted history of the Cultural Revolution, and its presence in my childhood. The series will expand through the production of different Lian Huan Hua and educational illustrated textbooks, emerging as a new publication in circulation.
My project focuses on developing an inside view of everyday life rather than using China as a cultural icon. Sixth generation film directors such as You Ye, Jia Zhang Ke and Wang Xiaoshuai have greatly influenced my works. Their films offer a critical view of the present, and romanticize the political control of the government. My project will continue offering a silent protest from my generation.