Today we’d like to introduce you to Lydia Fu.
Lydia, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I always wanted to be an artist as a child but being from an immigrant family, I felt pressure to pursue the hard sciences and eventually medicine. I actually received my Bachelor of Science from University of Chicago in Chemistry, completed some research which ended up in a paper published by Nature.
It was around that time – after I attended my first screening at Chicago’s local Foundation for Asian American Independent Media (FAAIM) at the Gene Siskel Film Center and always reading Giant Robot Magazine – that I saw a lot of Asian Americans pursuing art and I decided to chase after my childhood dreams. I ended up heading to Vancouver, Canada to study animation, got involved in the local indie film scene there and then moved back to Chicago to work freelance in illustration and motion design. I have a fine art practice on the side and occasionally make comics. You can find me at some local festivals.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I think I’m a bit all over the place. Besides painting, I do commercial work like motion graphics and animation for companies and clients, as well as graphic design and illustration for publications, online and other media. I consider my work and practice pretty interdisciplinary. I also love making comics though I don’t have much time with that recently. A lot or most of my work focuses on identity. Paintings are usually drawn from personal experiences and emotions. I do a semi auto-biographical webcomic called “Good Bad Sister Sister” (goodbadsistersister.tumblr.com) based off of personal, friends’ and family’s collective experiences growing up and living as female Asian Americans in America.
Every year I curate an art exhibition at the Gene Siskel Film Center with FAAIM (faaim.org) to promote Asian American and Asian Diasporic creative voices. I think I try to use these projects as a space to channel my personal ideas on culture and relationships; to help share a common human thread with others and reinforce that our very multiculturalist and racial differences and life in America and beyond can be a source for strength and beauty and not something that should be used to disempower or silence anyone.
What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
I think this is a very important time globally and we’ve already seen a lot of very exciting art being created. Many issues have reached a breaking point politically and environmentally. As our world becomes increasingly smaller with the help of the internet and modern technology, the ability to amplify visual voices is greater. I don’t think the artist role has necessarily changed much (everyone chooses their own way to create and express) – there will always be traditional roles but I think there are new roles and current roles constantly evolving.
Also the identity of “artist” has become fluid especially with technology – there’s a lot of cross pollination happening (VR, design, tech, gaming, science, music, podcasts, film, performance, etc.) which is exciting! Some artists may feel the call to politicize their work more. I am not sure about my personal work (it has always been fixated on my background as a POC, woman and Taiwanese-American), though I have recently become more interested in exploring themes of nature and science (and probably I am not the only one), I also seek other avenues to support civil rights or social justice through art, publications and art-based events.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I’ll be attending ICON10 (Illustration Conference, happening in Detroit this year) and will have some art on view and for sale. No upcoming shows yet, I might be at Renegade Craft Fair.
You can find my work on instagram @lungfu
My website: www.lydiafu.com
I have an online shop at that website, or if you want to reach out to me directly for questions, collaborations or commissions: lydia@lydiafu.com
Follow me on social media:
instagram: @lungfu
Twitter: @lydiafu
ello: @lydiafu
tumblr: @pzilla
facebook.com/lydiafu.artist
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lydiafu.com
- Email: lydia@lydiafu.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/lungfu
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/lydiafu.artist
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/lydiafu
- Other: http://ello.co/lydiafu
Image Credit:
For the piece with the man holding a cardboard box with a little bed and crouched person inside, “for ProPublica, AD Vignesh Ramachandran”
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