破酆都 Calling Her Through the Gates

Author

• Yuqi LiuFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-22-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Printmaking

First Advisor

Andrew Raftery

Second Advisor

Daniel Heyman

Third Advisor

Qiaoyi Shi

Abstract

My practice centers on papermaking, printmaking, and artist books to explore fiber as both image and language. I treat paper not simply as a surface, but as a living material through which memory, labor, and history can be held. By making my own sheets from plant fibers, fungi, and other organic matter, I create works in which material and meaning are inseparable. Shaped by my engagement with the natural world, women’s history, and overlooked vernacular forms of knowledge, my work moves through cycles of life and death, presence and disappearance, fragility and resilience. My projects with mushrooms and mycelium led me to think about interconnectedness, hidden structures, and the importance of looking closely at what grows in the margins. This thinking later expanded into questions of women’s visibility, erasure, and resistance within historical and contemporary Chinese contexts. I am especially drawn to how women’s speech, testimony, and knowledge are censored, fragmented, or lost, and to forms of writing such as Nüshu that carry memory through intimate, fragile, and ritual structures. Through the gesture of making paper, I seek to call back women who have been erased from history and to assert the strength and persistence of their existence.

Recommended Citation

Liu, Yuqi, "破酆都 Calling Her Through the Gates" (2026). Masters Theses. 1697.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1697

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