Who's that girl?
Silin Liu’s ‘I’m Everywhere’ series takes us into a playful and slippery world, where fact and fiction and past and present are blurred. Like Forrest Gump wandering into the momentous events of the 20th century, Liu Photoshops her Western alter ego ‘Celine Liu’ into snapshots with icons like Audrey Hepburn and Princess Diana, adopting their style to present herself as their friend and a part of history. These doctored photos make us question the modern cult of celebrity and how we project ourselves on the internet.
‘Celebrity selfie’ collecting has become the new autograph, and Liu plays on this bragging culture of Instagram. When I first saw the work, before I knew the ‘truth’ of them, I was impressed – who was this hip artist hanging out with Andy Warhol? I soon realised the joke was on me and this act of celebrity hunting was exactly what Liu is looking to expose.
“In my own image-making, I always seem to be looking for an answer in the photograph, yet I’ m always denied that answer.”
In Liu’s native China, couples pay large amounts of money to have heavily produced wedding photos taken in front of famous landmarks, as a way to project a fantasy image to their friends. In our post-truth world guests accept these images, not because they think they are real but because they want to be part of the fantasy. By using famous images from history Liu pushes this idea to an extreme, reflecting how creating an artificial image of ourselves has become not only acceptable but all important to the way we live.
The fact that the image of an Asian woman in these historical situations quickly feels artificial also demonstrates the prejudices that exist in the world. It still feels surprising and strange to see a woman in a line with Chairman Mao and a non-white person next to Churchill. By inserting herself into these images Liu forces us to ask why, creating an open dialogue about race and gender.
As our physical worlds have become smaller in lockdown, our time spent in the digital realm has increased as many of us turn to the internet for distraction. Liu’s work warns not to trust everything we see – we must step away from the artificial and into the real.
words - William Summerfield
To learn more about Silin Liu’s practice and see all works from this series: