Artist Interview | Cherrie Yu
Cherrie Yu is a 25 year old artist born in Xi’an, China. She currently lives and works from Chicago, IL. She holds a bachelor degree in English Literature at the College of William and Mary, and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has shown work at Chicago Cultural Center, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Links Hall and Mana Contemporary Chicago. She has been an artist in residence at ACRE, Contemporary Calgary Museum, and a visiting artist at Emory University. Her films have been screened at Satellite Art Show, Helena Anrather Gallery, Heaven Gallery and Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the awardee of the 2020 Kala Art Institute Media Award Fellowship, and will be an artist in residence at Yaddo Foundation in 2021.
I respond to the theme “beyond human power” with three dance films, all of which documents encounters and relationships between strangers through a choreographic process. At the heart of my proposal is that what is truly beyond our power is those outside of ourselves. We are inextricably bound up with others and affected by those we consider strangers. As people we live through catastrophes and trauma, and learning to relate to others on the level of the everyday. The films seek to capture this process of learning to relate, as individuals (including myself) reach outward beyond their power.
My works are ontological inquiries in film, video and choreography. The past two years I worked with archive and translation to explore how the quotidian and the extraordinary can be rewritten outside of context. In recent works I started involving other people more actively in my work, from famous choreographers who now only exist in archival footages, to people I encounter on the street of Chicago. My practice wants to be utilitarian, and I strive to make art that can be practiced, and understood by anybody. The labor of art, for me, is the desire to communicate, and the act of reaching out. At this particular time, I work towards the reclamation of intimacy and empathy at a time of great alienation.
Independent & Image Art Space: What are the critical milestones in your art career?
Cherrie Yu: I was lucky and grateful to have been awarded a few residencies throughout 2020 that support my art career. In May 2020 I was one of the 10 artists participating in the Collider Residency through Contemporary Calgary Museum. In fall 2020, I was able to keep developing the project with Links Hall in Chicago, a prestigious experimental performance venue. I was also able to travel to Maine a few times, to Monson Arts, and then to Ellis Beauregard Foundation to develop my career.
Independent & Image Art Space: In front of the current pandemic, how do you think art can do for our world, community or family?
Cherrie Yu: I think art is a very complex thing — it has functions in the world, but at the same time it is associated with aesthetics and being non-utilitarian. I think this becomes very interesting considering art often has monetary value and exists in a market, because that value often does not have anything to do with art’s actual function. I think art can do a lot for us in moments of crisis — calling attention to inequality, involving the general community to participate, and help process emotions such as grief and mourning on a massive scale. However, I think these functions are never this clear cut simple, because the different layers of labor and profit involved in artistic productions. When we think about questions such as what art can do, we need to also ask how art is doing these things, and the ethics surrounding such doing.
Independent & Image Art Space: In the new year of 2021, do you have any plan for your art creation?
Cherrie Yu: I plan to finish the film “Trio A Translation Project” in 2021. I plan to travel to Ecuador in May or June for the next residency through New Works, an arts organization in Chicago. I also plan to spend a month or two in China. My mom has collaborated with me on past projects, so that is something I can continue in 2021 as well.
