Today we’d like to introduce you to Xiouping.
Hi Xiouping, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am Taiwanese & Texan. 1st generation daughter of an immigrant. I am queer, I am biracial… a story that is very common in America. Yet our story is not often heard. As we approach 2022 and all the injustice that’s been happening regarding BLM and AAPI and LGBTQ and women’s bodies in 2020-21. The great pandemic, in isolation we see the oppression that has been happening for generations worldwide; the voices for more diversity are finally at the forefront of many political and critical conversations. Stories that have been passed down from our own families have been erased and are still being erased. These stories need to be told because we can see how history is being created by an elite dominant voice. Stories that have been lost in translation by not writing them down and preserving. This is important because so many people get erased in art and history. Art has mostly been dominated by the elite white male, but with the different channels of communication available today, I’m feeling optimistic that power is slowly eroding. My mother a seamstress since childhood and a 3rd grade education immigrated from Taiwan with 13 family members including my grandparents in the 1970s with my father, decidedly Caucasian with a high school education, who fought in three wars and was a farmer who picked cotton in Texas, and a survivor of the Great Depression.
My creative path started in high school with a 35mm canon given to me by my pops, I started shooting self-portraits to underground hip-hop fotoz in the 90’s of future moguls such as Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. etc.; before they became famous. At the same time, I was doing spoken word trying to be an Asian female rapper, I was a b-girl also while getting my BFA at San Francisco Art Institute in New Genres/Performance Art.
I grew up in the analog era, where we used to take self-portraits, when we took a selfie we couldn’t see the image it had to be developed and sometimes you would be distorted or cut in half. I have a treasure trove of 35mm Self-portraits and hip hop photographs; some have been shown, but many remain unseen.
I’ve since recently earned my MFA from Otis College of Art & Design, which was a life-changing experience and something I’ve always wanted to do. I have been recontextualizing my work and making old work new work. Reconstructing, Deconstructing my discourse.
Ultimately, I consider myself a new genres multi-disciplinary fine artist. I work with sculptures, sound, music, performance, installations, writing, video, painting, and more. Above all, I am a storyteller. I have always been fascinated by stories and myths.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I found a lot of challenges in the art world only having a BFA. It was really hard to get much respect as woman and a woman of color. As soon as I began my MFA, the doors started opening and I believe this is from community. These days, it seems hard to make friends because I’m from the analog era, this digital era is a different way of meeting people but I’ve learned to adapt and embrace it, and in fact find it incredible to meet and collaborate with artists/curators and writers in ways that would have not been otherwise possible. Because of the pandemic, half of my MFA experience took place over Zoom. We were all in such isolation during the pandemic. We lost access to studio visits, being together as a group, and the tactile experience one receives experiencing art in person. Despite these issues, which of course the entire world had to deal with, I feel like I was still able to stay afloat and adapt. As for everyone else during this challenging time, I learned a lot about myself and this strange, fascinating world.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an American new genres, multi-disciplinary artist; as well as a writer. My work forms a narrative that only can be told by merging and mixing mediums of performance, sound, video, and sculpture. Investigating the silence of faded stories untold. Meditating on the diaspora of animacy, aiming to illuminate the ways a native tongue can be lost through extinction and annihilation. Languages are cultural archives and reserves of community identity. In assimilation, they have historically been targeted for destruction. I examine the repository archives and the relationship bracketed between the spaces. Exploring the tension between the emergence and disappearance and considering how what seems natural is often a cultural fabrication… I have shown my work San Francisco, New York, L.A., and Mexico City. I currently live in Venice Beach.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I find my happiness in the practice of gratitude this simple fact of waking up truly brings me joy. I have lost many people in this life, I am happy to wake up and have a black cup of coffee or a smoothie. This is a great place to start the day or if feeling off think about what you are thankful for. Then my happiness can expand. Life is no easy road even if blessed. It’s easy to get sucked up into my own trauma or the trauma/drama that surrounds us re: the news (pain of this world) my past life, or any obstacle. I am a survivor, health is starting with your mind and practicing gratitude expands, then I take that to my studio this is a sacred, magical space. When I go into my studio, the room has a clear purpose. You can shut off the outside world research and focus. I consider myself an art scientist or alchemist. It’s this incredible idea to go into a room and simply create or marinate in ideas, write, or to explore one’s mind and if it gets dark and deep like the ocean, I explore that. Isolation is merely one aspect of creation for me. I equally enjoy collaboration with others. This brings me great happiness when people come together to create. The art community and community itself is like nothing else. Family is family we make our family’s bottom line choose wisely. I have a sound project in the works to be released in 2022 on Spotify, iTunes and other platforms. My Thesis was called ‘America Stole my Tongue’ originally displayed at the Helen & Abraham Bolsky Gallery, which can now be seen online in a virtual MFA Thesis Exhibition through the Otis website or contact me via website for more info of all upcoming projects and or interested in a studio visit. Peace be still.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.xiouping.com
- Instagram: @xiouping
Image Credits:
Photographers: Christopher Stoltz, Nathaniel Harvey, George Pitts, Xiouping
