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Linda Matney Gallery

5435 Richmond Rd
Williamsburg VA
(757) 675 6627
Contemporary Art Collections/John Lee Matney Curator

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ECHO FRAGMENTS: PHOTOGRAPHS BY IRIS WU 吴靖昕

June 8, 2021 John Matney
cropuntitled(half-self)-Recovered.jpg
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ECHO FRAGMENTS: PHOTOGRAPHS BY IRIS WU 吴靖昕

June 17 – July 19, 2021


Opening Reception: Saturday, June 19, 3 -6 pm

Iris Wu, Untitled(us in the field), 2019, Gelatin silver, 14 × 11 in, 35.6 × 27.9 cm, Editions 1-5 of 5 + 1AP.   VIEW ON ARTSY

Iris Wu, Untitled(us in the field), 2019, Gelatin silver, 14 × 11 in, 35.6 × 27.9 cm,

Editions 1-5 of 5 + 1AP. VIEW ON ARTSY


Working with the medium of photography, I confront time, memory, love and loss in my own personal relationships.

My first project, in the calm of your arms, began as one of self-exploration by proxy of my intimate relationship with my partner at the time. I intended to explore the dualities present in our relationship: togetherness and tension in private and public spaces, individuality and similarity, and concealment and exposure.

In doing so, I found that the photographs also became a means of expressing my fears and reluctance toward being seen. Growing up in mainland China, I have been unable to broach the subject of sexuality with my conservative family. The narrative I depict in my photographs is one which I have actively kept hidden from them. When including myself as a subject, I often hide my face in shadow or turn completely away from the camera articulating my fear of being seen or found out.

The project concluded when my now ex-partner and I decided to end our relationship. I was lost not being able to photograph my ex-partner and I began photographing myself without her. Boredom, loneliness, and aimlessness prompted me to make photographs of myself and my surroundings. Photographs of myself and small moments and details in life became a way of understanding myself, chronicling my state of mind during this period of time. I was also questioning my own being. In the process of making self-portraits, I was intrigued by the strangeness of seeing myself in the photographs and I thought of how Sartre argues that it is when human beings are confronted with the gaze of the Other that we become aware of our own existence and the other’s.

After spending time working through these photographs, I decided to build on the images from in the calm of your arms with new photographs as I continue to explore my identity through new relationships, revisiting scenes from my childhood, and returning to China and my family. I then went on a journey of searching and reminiscing. Photographs from this period oscillate between loss and discovery, and meditations on the past while also looking toward future uncertainty and possibility. There are sentimental and seductive images from my newly emerged intimate relationship, mixed with photographs that grapple with our shared confrontation with uncertainty, wandering, searching, and longing. Through the making of the photographs, I tried to understand life at this time, at this age, and face the struggles that are often part of coming of age.

I am interested in the physical presentation of photographs. I experiment with how the manner in which images exist on pages and walls affects the viewer’s experience. Multiplicity, the pairing of images, the scale of and physical distance between images present new layers. My experimentation with these devices help me to convey my experience with time and memory.


Iris Wu, 2021


SPONSORED BY CHRIS HARRIS/REFUSE ORDINARY, DAVID HERRING/INNOVATIVE PAIN RELEASE, LOU ZELL/FILMORE FOUND, AND BRIAN FREER

Iris Wu, Untitled(puddles), 2020, Gelatin Silver Print, 11x14”, Edition of 3 +1AP

Iris Wu, Untitled(puddles), 2020, Gelatin Silver Print, 11x14”, Edition of 3 +1AP

Iris Wu 吴靖昕 (b. 1999) is a lens-based artist living between Virginia, USA and Guangzhou, China. Her current projects confront time, memory, love and loss in her own personal relationships. Most recently, she received the 2020 Society for Photographic Education LGBTQ Student Scholarship Award and her work was acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for their permanent collection.

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PAST EXHIBITIONS

Past
Evolving Perspectives: A W&M Senior Art Capstone Exhibition
about 2 months ago
Portals: Interior Worlds and Italian Landscapes Paintings by Teddy Johnson
about 5 months ago
THE PORTRAIT: HISTORIES, MYTHS, AND ALLEGORIES
about 8 months ago
THE LANDSCAPE AT CURRENT MIDTOWN
about 10 months ago
GRAYSON CHANDLER: PLANTING TRACES
about a year ago
REBECCA SHKEYROV’S KEPT UNDER HER WING AT CURRENT MIDTOWN
about a year ago
OLGA TOBRELUTS AND IVAN PLUSCH AT CURRENT MIDTOWN
about a year ago
THE WILLIAM & MARY STUDIO ART SENIOR CAPSTONE EXHIBITION
about a year ago
JOHN R.G. ROTH: MODELED EXPERIENCE
about a year ago
Synesthesia at SATÉ, A New American Experience
about a year ago
Christi Harris: Lachrymose
about a year ago
Leigh Anne Chambers: Shape Shifters and Spirit Guides
about a year ago
REBECCA SHKEYROV: KEPT UNDER HER WING
about a year ago
Nudes: A Contemporary View
about a year ago
Installation/Works on Paper 2023
about 2 years ago
THE WILLIAM & MARY SENIOR STUDIO ART MAJORS’ CAPSTONE EXHIBITION
about 2 years ago
A Glimpse into the Future of the Matney gallery
about 2 years ago
BODILY RHETORIC
about 2 years ago
Three Excellences of Culture: Painting, Poetry and Music, the Work of Art Rosenbaum and Friends
about 2 years ago
Kristin Skees and Ryan Lytle: By a Thread
about 2 years ago

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