Materials Reminiscence and the Intimacy of Creation
Yicong Li, a multidisciplinary artist and educator primarily based in Chicago, crafts deeply emotive works that blur the boundaries between fiber artwork, sculpture, and vogue. Her creations are greater than aesthetic objects; they’re experiences stitched with reminiscence, emotion, and transformation. Working primarily with methods reminiscent of knitting, crocheting, and hand stitching, Li constructs wearable sculptures and full-body kinds that prioritize tactility and the emotional cost of supplies. Her work is just not merely about visible influence however concerning the energy of softness—how texture and slowness can create area for therapeutic, reflection, and intimate engagement.
Li’s journey into the world of artwork was not a calculated pursuit however an natural evolution. From a younger age, making artwork together with her palms grew to become an instinctive method to course of advanced feelings and perceive her identification. Her fascination with the interplay between textiles and the human physique grew alongside her curiosity in psychology and the delicate ways in which supplies can convey power. Wool, mohair, and pure parts like stone ceaselessly seem in her work, every chosen for his or her sensorial qualities and emotional resonance. These supplies don’t merely function media—they act as conduits for consolation, resilience, and transformation, for each the maker and people who encounter the piece.
Her inventive language expanded profoundly throughout her last 12 months in school by an interdisciplinary course titled Multimedia Occasion. The culminating dwell runway efficiency redefined how she perceived her follow, inserting the physique not solely as a reference however as an lively participant within the work. This pivotal second allowed her to merge her affinity for fiber, vogue, and efficiency right into a unified inventive path. Since then, Li has continued to develop a particular fashion the place sculpture is just not static however one thing to be lived in, worn, and felt—deepening the experiential layers of her artwork.
Yicong Li: Sculpting Silence, Stitching Resilience
Fairly than adhering to strict boundaries of medium or self-discipline, Li approaches artwork as a technique of intuitive making. Her work emerges from a tactile dialogue between palms and materials, typically starting with a unfastened inspiration that regularly solidifies by repetition and the bodily rhythms of fiber manipulation. Whether or not knitting rows of sentimental yarn or fastidiously stitching beads into kind, she permits the method itself to guide her—letting each bit evolve organically. This sensitivity to rhythm and motion creates items that carry the quiet pulse of labor, reminiscence, and transformation.
Recurring motifs in her work draw from the pure world—significantly deep-sea creatures and botanical kinds. These inspirations aren’t ornamental; they mirror the emotional environments she seeks to construct by her follow. The silent power of organisms that thrive within the ocean’s darkest depths resonates together with her want to evoke calm, power, and emotional depth. Their resilience in isolation turns into a metaphor for internal therapeutic. Her sculptural clothes mirror this: tender and protecting but highly effective, providing a type of visible and tactile empathy that holds area for vulnerability and renewal.
A major instance of this sensibility is her piece Cassiopeia, named for each the jellyfish Cassiopea and the celestial constellation. This twin reference—fluid and natural, but distant and glued—encapsulates the stress she typically explores between movement and stillness, physique and spirit. Created with mohair, wool, stones, and pearls, the piece represents a private transformation. It additionally bridges her twin roles as artist and educator, embodying the emotional labor she invests in her educating. Cassiopeia grew to become a meditation, a mild providing that connects her inventive {and professional} lives. It’s a sculpture that doesn’t simply exist however listens, comforts, and holds area—marking a pivotal flip towards her curiosity in artwork as a device for therapeutic engagement.
An Ecosystem of Texture and Thought
Li’s workspace mirrors her inventive philosophy—welcoming each chaos and readability. Fairly than counting on stringent group, she surrounds herself with the supplies that talk to her within the second: skeins of yarn, beads, fragments of cloth, and unfinished textures unfold round her in what she refers to as “organized chaos.” This spatial openness permits her course of to unfold with out constraint, inviting spontaneity and discovery. On the finish of a venture, she restores order, making a rhythm between expressive immersion and considerate reflection. This fluid motion between making and tidying provides her each the liberty to discover and the construction to reset.
Unexpectedly, tv crime dramas play a key function in sustaining her focus. The structured logic and problem-solving parts of detective collection present a psychological framework that contrasts with the fluidity of her inventive work. Whereas stitching and establishing, she listens to narratives full of stress and backbone. This twin engagement helps her keep grounded, feeding each analytical considering and inventive circulate. The parallel she sees between fixing mysteries and creating artwork—each involving endurance, statement, and intuitive leaps—additional enriches her course of.
Sensory grounding is one other important a part of her studio follow. Lighting incense creates a meditative environment that facilities her consideration and helps her transition right into a targeted state. This quiet ritual—easy but highly effective—establishes a way of presence and intention in her workspace. It permits her to maneuver into a unique psychological area the place creation feels each sacred and embodied. Mixed with the tactile engagement of fiber, these practices contribute to an atmosphere the place emotional consciousness and inventive exploration coexist.
Yicong Li: Weaving Artwork, Training, and Therapeutic
Li’s inventive path is inseparable from her identification as an educator and her evolving curiosity in artwork’s therapeutic potential. Working intently with college students, lots of whom face social and emotional challenges, has sharpened her understanding of artwork as an area for emotional expression and resilience. Via her educating, she witnesses firsthand how creativity can change into a device for self-discovery, regulation, and connection. This perception feeds straight into her personal work, which regularly seeks to create environments of care—tender areas that invite feeling, introspection, and dialogue.
Her use of fiber isn’t just a technical selection however a deeply felt dedication to artwork that engages the senses and the psyche. Delicate sculptures, in contrast to work or drawings, invite contact and proximity. They evoke consolation, evoke reminiscence, and will be worn or inhabited. This stage of intimacy gives a therapeutic dimension that resonates together with her purpose of constructing artwork that heals slightly than merely adorns. Li sees her sculptural clothes not solely as inventive statements however as emotional containers—vessels that may carry tales, take in feeling, and gently remodel those that encounter them.
Trying forward, she is more and more occupied with how these practices would possibly merge extra deliberately with artwork remedy. Cassiopeia, particularly, grew to become a private landmark, revealing how her inventive instincts may help therapeutic in others. It stands as a testomony to her imaginative and prescient: that artwork could be a sanctuary, a salve, and a bridge between self and group. Li is charting a path the place fiber, motion, and emotion are woven right into a follow that not solely expresses but in addition embraces, helps, and transforms.
