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Family
Hung Liu was raised primarily by her mother, Liu Zongguang (1922–2011), a middle school teacher. Her father, Xia Peng (1921–1996), was a captain in the Kuomingtang (Nationalist) Army of Chiang Kai-shek. In May 1948, a few months after Hung Liu was born in Changchun, Communist forces led by Lin Biao and Mao Zedong advanced into the industrial city. A five-month siege ensued, and Liu's family was forced to flee Changchun to avoid starvation. During that flight, Liu's father was detained by Communist troops. Her parents were forced to divorce, and Liu did not reunite with her father until 1994.
For Liu, creating portraits of her family was a way of "summoning ghosts." She said, "They are with me all the time, but I cannot reach them." Liu's memories of her family are embedded in all of her portraits. She used color, texture, found objects, and shaped canvases to transport her family members into our contemporary moment, inviting us to look upon them as though they were our own. |