Kami Yirao Hu (b.1995, Zhejiang, China) is currently living and working in London. Kami has been studying MA Contemporary Art Practice in Royal College of Art since 2020. She got her BA Sociology&Advertising in Nanjing University, in 2018. Previously Kami has been working as a filmmaker in the industry since 2018.
Kami Yirao Hu
I am fascinated by ancient myths and legends, also the night sky covered with numerous stars. The sparkles from an enormous distance make me realize how small our planet is, but how strong the human spirits are. I enjoy the distant connection between the stars and us — when the lights from billions of lightyears away travel to the earth, shine on our skins and reach our eyes, it moves me.
My works are always trying to search for the poetic essence of objects. Thus, I pay great attention to materiality in each piece of work. Not only the physical and chemical characteristics of the materials, but also the symbolistic connotations of them.
Nwt –
Material: Bronze plated with Gold
Size: 30*5*5 cm
Geb –
Material: Paraffin Wax, Essential Oil, Iron Rod, Plaster
Column Size: 90*4.5*4.5 cm
Base Size: 20*20*20 cm
Nwt is the Egyptian Goddess of sky. Geb — her husband, is the God of Earth. The couple is separated by Nwt’s father — Shu, the God of air.
The casted candle column beneath is in the shape of Constantine Brancusi’s Endless Column. It is burning slowly to liquid wax. The goddess fell to the column, while the column is collapsing to the ground, getting away from the goddess.
As the universe is expanding, the distance between the stars and the Earth is constantly increasing, thus, this is a tragic love scene, the goddess is chasing and the god is disappearing.
Medium:
Bronze plated with Gold, Paraffin Wax, Essential Oil, Iron Rod, PlasterSize:
Variable
The Galaxy –
The installation consists of two parts.
First, a body chain on the mannequin and a set triptych of oil paintings on wood panel. I use silver flakes and black oil paint to mimic the galaxy, the silver star in the center of the body chain is connected to the middle of the oil painting with a fish line.
Triptych Oil Painting on Birch Plywood
Size: 120*50 cm
Second, the golden star on a black porous basalt, one of its spike is pricking into a wax female hand, the hand grows from the basalt, trying to approach the starry star above.
Bronze Star plated with Gold, Black Wax, Porous Basalt, Agate
Size: 15*8*5 cm
The Star Body Chain –
Bronze Star plated with Silver, Pearls, Silver Chains
Size: 9*5*5 cm
The title of my Critical Historical Study dissertation is Dance Me to the End of Love, I studied the cosmic dance, which is a universal rhythm that exists in every objects, including the planets, animals, and matters like water and fire, even in some abstract concepts, for example, relationships, karmas.
In this piece of work, I want to explore the relationship between humans and the stars. I am always fascinated with the stars and universe. Because everything we know are from the stars.
Medium:
Gold, Silver, Bronze, Pearls, Plastic Mannequin, Oil Painting on Birch Plywood, Wax, Basalt, Agate
Bunny Tail –
Faux Fur, Polystyrene, Leather
Size: 60*60*60cm
Bunny Ears –
Faux Fur, LED Tube Lights, Metal Sheets
Size: 75*20*10cm
I made a series of installations, a bunny-tail beanbag and a pair of bunny-ear floor lamps, covered with white faux fur. The organs are separately distributed in random spaces.
In this project, I am aiming to make touchable and sensible sculpture. So I choose furry material to make furnitures, to arouse and disrupt sensations.
Medium:
Faux Fur, Polystyrene, Leather, LED Tube Lights, Metal Sheets
This is a glass egg filled with glycerin and red ink, the red pigment is dissolving very slowly in glycerin, as if the red is growing like an aquatic creature. The egg also contains glass sheds from an old egg which was broken. I collected the sheds, put them into the new egg.
I made this egg to represent the cyclicality of the universal substance, red ink refers to blood. The glycerin is extracted from plants, it is a double-sided substance that can either be used to protect the skin or to make bombs — destroy and recreate.