MoCP - Darkroom 2023

Guanyu Xu (China, b. 1993), YN-09152008-11072020, 2020 

Chicago-based artist Guanyu Xu is known for constructing and documenting elaborate photographic installations within interior spaces. In 2018, he created a series of images in his parent’s apartment in a Beijing military complex while they were away for the day. This act allowed Xu to expand the conservative, heteronormative space where his identity as a queer individual is taboo and remains hidden. In this series, titled Resident Aliens, the artist works within the homes of immigrants living in the United States. In layering their own belongings and personal photographs, Guanyu Xu speaks to a liminal space between what is familiar and foreign.

Guanyu Xu is the recipient of the Chicago DCASE Artist Grant (2022), CENTER Development Grant (2021), and the Hyéres International Festival Prize (2020). His work is held in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, WI; Harvard Art Museums, MA; and the New Orleans Museum of Art, among others. 

https://www.xuguanyu.com/