Aihui_2.0

I’m an artist from Shanghai, China who experiments with a different number of artistic mediums, that explore the nature of humanity within culture and society, specifically through the prism of Chinese life. I grew up in a very traditional Chinese setting. I’m from a small, industrial, coastal city in the North of China that echoes the attitudes and sentiments of the majority of this country. Work hard, love your country. I made my way as far south as I could go after high school, and resettled in Hong Kong, but the lingering impact of the system I grew up in broke me whilst I was there. I dropped out of school and headed to Shanghai with no direction. It was in Shanghai that I started a new career out of pure circumstance, as I was scouted as a model and began to get work. I have always made art, and this strange new career allowed me to support myself financially to make my art. What was strange was how this new work as a model had intersectionality with my work as an artist. My work took me to Paris, to London, all over the place, but it was something I never enjoyed, my art was my passion. It was this intersectionality between my “career” and my art that stemmed the conception of my latest project Aihui 2.0.



Like I said, my career as a model was always just a financial trade off, to allow me to make my art. However, the industry can be incredibly toxic and frustrating. I was frustrated at being a model, constantly losing opportunities to socially constructed constraints. Work in another country? Border and Visa issues. Two jobs on the same day at the same time? Pick one and burn your reputation with the other brand. The work really started to take its toll on me, and was reminiscent of feelings I had growing up. I started my career late, much later than usual. The creeping anxiety from having to race against my own biology was riddling me with insecurities and horrible thoughts. Aihui 2.0 was a way for me to reclaim autonomy over myself. My artistic creation that would never age, could go anywhere, be in two or more places at once, have no pressure, while allowing me to claim full control of my own decisions.  Aihui 2.0 grew out of the darkest insecurities and anxieties I held, and since then she has flourished.