iris yirei hu

American, born 1991

Biographyiris yirei hu works in community with artists, scientists, historians, keepers of traditions, and organizers to limn connections between people, places, and practices to explore possibilities of kinship. She has shown her work at the Plug-in ICA (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), OxyArts, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Human Resources, and Visitor Welcome Center. Public art commissions include a sundial made in collaboration with the late Tongva Elder Julia Bogany and Tongva poet Megan Dorame through LAND, ICA LA, and WE RISE at the Los Angeles State Historic Park (2021), 10 mural wraps at California State University Dominguez Hills (2020), and a bus/rail poster for LA Metro (2016). She has been supported by the Foundation of Contemporary Art, Rema Hort Mann Foundation, and is a 2016 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow.

iris yirei hu paints, weaves, dyes, tells stories, and composts her lived reality into large installations and cross-cultural collaborations as a way to redeem the embodied intimacy we once had with the natural world. Her practice centers study and listening, through which she is able to collaboratively shape transformative futures and friendships. Her practice is deeply rooted in reflective questioning. What if we understood history as generations of people cultivating love and optimism through building relationships, instead of centering an individual or a sequence of events? How can I use art to support and uplift the work of others and their journeys so that we can deepen our connection to land and people?

Source: https://art.calarts.edu/events/iris-yirei-hu

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