Wenda Gu
Born in Shanghai and emigrated to the US in the 80s, Wenda Gu is an acclaimed contemporary artist who works in ink painting, installation and land art. He sits down with Leanne Mirandilla to talk about transcending cultures and using human hair as an art medium.
HK Magazine: You often use human materials like hair and even placenta—why do you choose to use these materials?
Wenda Gu: It’s been a long time since I started “United Nations” [an installation series constructed out of human hair, pictured] in 1993, but it’s still globally ongoing. The idea all started at the ending of the 80s when there was globalization and the re-establishing of cultural identities in different regions. The other side was that in the year 2000 a lot of people were talking about the future, the millennium, genetic science, and that this kind of science would result in another stage of mankind, and even create artificial mankind. So there’re two issues—one is the human body and the other is globalization. I designed the work in such a way that it will be traveling from one country to the other; from one continent to the other. Since 1993 the work went to more than 20 countries, with 4 million people’s hair. To collect real humans—not just a representation of mankind’s story, but real humans; I always had a fantasy of trying to have all kinds of human races included in my work.
HK: So the work addresses globalization?
WG: It reflects my personal identity and my migration from China to the US. “United Nations” as an idea, as a utopian idea, really makes sense to me. I actually want to transcend my own cultural identity, so sometimes I try to… well, not ignore my racial and cultural identity, because it’s always with me no matter where I go. But I try to extend and develop my own cultural presentation. That’s the idea behind “United Nations.” I had a difficult time when I first moved to the US. First of all, you have the choice of maintaining your own culture, but you can also totally forget about yourself and get into the culture of where you live and become totally Westernized, or you can do a combination. What I want is not actually the combination but the most extreme—something original, not just my background and American culture.
HK: How do you collect the hair?
WG: In the beginning it was kind of tough. The project was not known, and I had just been in America for a few years. I had to go to all the barber shops in different regions in order to have hair from different races to symbolize American culture. It took me a long time. I went to barber shops in Harlem, Chinatown, Park Avenue, even to Native American reservations. Lately I’ve purchased hair from hair recycling companies, where you can get a huge amount.
HK: How long can you maintain each piece? Do they come apart after a while?
WG: If you talk about the concept of eternity, there’s no material on the planet or in the universe that won’t decay. Everything is decaying over time. But if you look at Egyptian mummies, the mummies’ hair is still there. It’s a matter of conservation. When museums collect my work they always ask what kind of medium I use to bind the hair together, and how long-lasting human hair actually is. It lasts much longer than a canvas or paper. Paper is fragile after 30 years but human hair is very strong.
HK: What are your future plans for this project?
WG: Currently I have eight assistants to weave the hair into very thin hair braids. It’s of a very fine quality and very even. My goal is to make a 50-kilometer, single human hair rope, dyed in several colors like a rainbow. I want to use that single hair piece to shape a chapel or temple. And I also use hair to make other forms, such as powdering hair to make a Chinese ink stick. When you paint with the hair-ink, you’re actually writing with human DNA.
HK: How did you go from working in Chinese ink painting to doing what you do now?
WG: I was trained as a classical, traditional Chinese landscape painter. That’s what my Master’s degree of art is in. While I was in the Master’s program, the senior leader of China started to have the Open Door Policy, so I had the opportunity to open my eyes and see the world. My work is always deep into my own culture yet always looking for something new and up-to-date in the world. I will never be satisfied by either copying from the West or copying from the Chinese tradition. I can elevate the Chinese tradition to a new creative dimension and make it more original.