Lihong Liu is a practising artist and researcher based in London. She was awarded her doctoral degree in 2023. In 2022, she co-curated her first joint exhibition "Secret Heim" in the UK. As a researcher, Lihong presented her papers at The Cultural Literacy Everywhere Symposium on Dwelling, hosted online by University College Dublin, and Colouring In: The Past, a one-day symposium, hosted by the University of the Arts London in 2022. Also as an invited artist and researcher presented her paper at The 4th Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media & Culture, hosted in Barcelona, Spain in 2023. I attended her lecture in Wilson road last week.
Lihong’s work spans various media, including drawings, sculptures and installations. Her earlier sculptures explored the relationship between memory and perception of daily objects via the use of traces of the absent and present, while her recent work examines the use of déjà vu as an artistic strategy of ‘affect,’ particularly in connection to the spatial and temporal displacement associated with the unheimlich (i.e. uncanny/un-homely). Lihong’s practice and its theoretical contextualisation address concepts prevalent in the philosophical and psychological literature about the relationship between déjà vu and the unheimlich. Her practice is specifically focused on the displacement that occurs when one is away from one’s home, continuing to question the idea of 'home', and the sense of continuity of home. Home is a word of great significance, both physically and spiritually. Physically, home is where we live, our haven, our safety zone. Spiritually, home is where we put down roots, where we belong, where we are spiritually anchored.
Lihong’s work spans various media, including drawings, sculptures and installations. Her earlier sculptures explored the relationship between memory and perception of daily objects via the use of traces of the absent and present, while her recent work examines the use of déjà vu as an artistic strategy of ‘affect,’ particularly in connection to the spatial and temporal displacement associated with the unheimlich (i.e. uncanny/un-homely). Lihong’s practice and its theoretical contextualisation address concepts prevalent in the philosophical and psychological literature about the relationship between déjà vu and the unheimlich. Her practice is specifically focused on the displacement that occurs when one is away from one’s home, continuing to question the idea of 'home', and the sense of continuity of home. Home is a word of great significance, both physically and spiritually. Physically, home is where we live, our haven, our safety zone. Spiritually, home is where we put down roots, where we belong, where we are spiritually anchored.
I often migrate, from one place to another, from one environment to another. This frequent migration allows me to regularly experience the impact between familiar and unfamiliar environments. Each migration feels like an adventure in which I have to adapt to a new environment, a new way of life, new relationships. This shock, although sometimes unsettling and disconcerting, also makes me appreciate what I have and the place I call home.
For me, home is not just a physical space, but also a spiritual place. It's a place where I can let down all my defences, show myself without reserve and find deep inner peace and tranquillity. Home is where I can come back to myself, find myself and realise my worth.
In everyday life, many objects represent home. It may be a familiar bed, a chair we use frequently, a book we read often or a piece of clothing we wear often. These objects, although seemingly ordinary, all contain the meaning of home, the warmth of home and the emotions of home.
I think we can paint a picture of home.