Hung Liu

Hung Liu was born in Changchun, China in 1948 and grew up under the Maoist regime during the Cultural Revolution. Liu immigrated to the United States in 1984 to attend the University of California, San Diego, where she earned her MFA. Liu lived and worked in the Bay Area until her death in 2021. Invited to Washington University in 1992, Hung Liu produced five editions with Master Printer Kevin Garber. Among the imagery appearing in the prints are depictions of traditional Chinese facial features, similar to the figural styles that Hung Liu was required to teach when she was still living in China. Through combining images of codified facial types with photography, a medium forbidden to her in her homeland, Liu openly referenced the issues that she was forced to avoid as an artist working in China.