DAI YING: ILLUMINATING CONTEMPORARY ART WITH TRADITION AND FEMINIST INNOVATION
THE INSPIRING ARTISTIC JOURNEY OF DAI YING
Chinese-born artist Dai Ying, is a luminary in contemporary painting, installations, and performance art. Weaving intricate narratives of tradition and feminist-inspired innovation through her captivating creations, she aims to inspire and hold a mirror up to the patriarchy.
Born in 1983 in Emei Mountain, Sichuan, China, Ying currently lives in New York, Los Angeles, and Beijing.
Influences of Beijing, New York, and Los Angeles on Dai Ying’s Creative Process
You’ve lived and worked across Beijing, New York, and Los Angeles. How do each of these cities influence your creative process and the themes you explore in your art?
Beijing New York, and Los Angeles are cities with completely different national backgrounds and urban landscapes. The political stances of different countries and the living environments and rhythms of different cities constantly influence people’s perspectives. As an artist, living in these three diverse cities has given me a keen sense of their differences. These differences provide me with channels to understand various value systems in the world, keeping me alert and reflective at all times. This has allowed me to create art with more diverse media and techniques. However, the theme I explore in my art has never changed: it is the perception of this world that I have experienced, which will always be the eternal theme of my creations.
Integrating Sichuan’s Cultural Heritage into Contemporary Art
Coming from the rural village of Emei Mountain, how do you incorporate the cultural heritage of Sichuan into your installations and performances, especially when placed in such cosmopolitan environments as New York or Los Angeles?
From the moment I was born from my mother’s womb to the world, the energy of my hometown, Mount E’mei, has completely integrated into my blood, influencing my life. I was born in Mount E’mei, Sichuan, China, which is in the Kunlun Mountain Ranges, a place believed to be closest to the sky. As a result, it is a natural, massive energy field. Being born there, the water and soil nurtured me and made me a person with a naturally vibrant and strong energy. In my artworks, whether it’s easel painting, installation, or performance art, the energy of Mount E’mei naturally infuses into my practice. Especially in cities with diverse cultural backgrounds like New York and Los Angeles, my artworks can contribute to the diversity of these cities.
Adapting Artistic Vision in New York’s Cultural Landscape
Since your move to New York, how has immersing yourself in a new cultural landscape altered your artistic vision?
New York is a city with an international perspective and cultural diversity, home to diverse global art. Living in New York has provided me with a more complex and multidimensional understanding of the world. It has made my artistic approaches more diverse and enriched my artistic vision with greater acuity.
Your work spans painting, installations, and performance art. Can you discuss the challenges and rewards of working across multiple disciplines? How do you balance these modes of expression within a single narrative?
Creating multimedia works fulfils my artistic vision. Using various media is not a challenge but rather a natural desire in my practice to explore more materials and media, thereby transforming them into richer artistic expressions. This multi-faceted and multimedia approach has brought me immense rewards because it makes my artistic expression more accurate and profound. Premised with a unified narrative perspective, the use of multiple media enriches and diversifies my artistic expression, making me feel more excited and empowered.
Global Audiences and Universal Themes
Having showcased your work globally, from the Huguo Guanyin Temple in Beijing to the Future Fair in New York, how do you find your international audiences respond differently to your work? Are there universal themes that resonate everywhere?
From Beijing’s Huguo Guanyin Temple to the New York Future Fair, I have found that global audiences have surprisingly similar reactions to my pieces. This is due to the universal empathy evoked by my works, as they consistently explore and discuss themes of humanity, politics, identity, and shared human emotions. Therefore, my art resonates deeply with people from various backgrounds, evoking the most genuine empathetic responses.
The Influence of Travel on Artistic Expression
Travel seems to be a significant aspect of your life and work. How does travelling influence your artistic expression? Can you share a particular travel experience that directly inspired a piece of your art?
Travelling for me is like experiencing a theatrical performance in unfamiliar environments, providing nourishment for my artistic expression. There was one particularly memorable trip to Kathmandu, Nepal. The local people there devoutly walk around the Boudha (wishful pagoda) as a ritual. I joined them in the walk—I walked 113 times around the Boudha, which lasted for 10 hours, covering approximately 50 kilometres. Throughout the process, my body became extremely fatigued, and I started experiencing hallucinations. In my mind, I saw countless pagodas floating and rotating clockwise in the sky, filling the entire space. I felt incredibly small, like a speck of dust floating in the void. This experience inspired me to create a series of works titled Boudha/Wishful Pagoda.
Advice for Young Artists on the Global Stage
Finally, what advice would you give to young artists who draw their inspiration from their cultural backgrounds and wish to make a mark on the global stage?
My advice is—never forget your cultural background and identity. The recognition of one’s identity is a powerful voice on the international stage. It is the differences in identities that create this rich and colourful world, and it is because of these differences that we can make variable critical contributions to the world. In the era of digital technology, artificial intelligence, and the internet, the world is becoming increasingly smaller. In today’s world, there is no shortage of homogeneity, but preserving the uniqueness of different identities is the most precious aspect of living in today’s world.
