Joy Li

Lives and works in New Haven, CT, USA

Artist statement

"TIME IS MONEY, EFFICIENCY IS LIFE." This is the slogan of Shenzhen, China, the city I grew up in—a place driven by speed, competitiveness, and relentless development. Shenzhen is vibrant and wealthy, full of opportunity and dreams, yet burdened with fatigue, emptiness, and the commodification of people. Like the city’s frequent typhoons, life here is marked by extremes. The rain blends two opposites into a quivering experience—both refreshing and disgusting, where life-giving moisture intertwines with destructive brutality. This duality haunts my interdisciplinary practice, where sculpture and performance are my most important mediums. In my sculptures, I explore contrasts using materials that range from solid and shiny, like metal and lights, to fragile and perishable, like hair strands, water droplets, or butterfly specimens. Each material holds its own duality, revealing the vulnerability of the human body within a consumer-driven world and the allure and power of the objects that surround us. The human body is central to my work, both as a theme and as material. In performances, I wear my sculptural creations, reshaping my identity and transforming into something beyond human—a creature that transcends societal norms. These wearable sculptures allow me to shed my social identity, interacting with the audience in ways that disrupt conventions and break free from the constraints of modern society’s hierarchy. Through my performances, I explore alternative ways of being,...

Artwork