Film screening: Dinu Li, The Ghost Orchid Gesture
To coincide with Photo Fringe’s theme ‘Common Ground’ Dinu Li will be screening his film The Ghost Orchid Gesture during our opening times at the gallery during the closing weekend of CLASSifications.
About the screening
The Ghost Orchid is a vanishingly rare plant, threatened with extinction. Its characteristics are brought to life through the hand gestures of my 93-year-old mother, as her fingers imitate the orchid’s movements against the breeze. Wandering around English gardens, she transforms into different creatures while blending in with her surroundings. The Ghost Orchid Gesture points to the potential loss of the rarest of orchids, given presence by a frail old woman in the winter of her life.
The Ghost Orchid Gesture, 2021. Sculptural assemblage on plinth, including artificial birds, faux flowers, bird feathers and pom-poms. Two channel video installation with sound. Duration: 8 minutes & 48 seconds (looped).
About the artist
Dinu Li was born in Hong Kong and currently lives and works in Cornwall, UK. Li is an interdisciplinary artist working with the moving image, photography, sculptural assemblages and performance. In his practice, Li examines the manifestation of culture in the everyday, finding new meaning to the familiar, making visible the seemingly invisible. Archives play an active role in Li’s work, and they are often used as points of departure for his projects. His methodology is research based, with an emphasis on appropriation and reconfiguration. Li’s work is often characterised by problematising the document as part of the modus operandi.
Li has exhibited both nationally and internationally, including the 53rd Venice Biennale; the 3rd Bucharest Biennale; Tashkent Biennale 2007, Uzbekistan; Tatton Park Biennial 2012; EVA 2005; Contact FotoFest 05, Toronto; PHotoEspana 13, Madrid; Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden; Oldenburger Kunstverein, Germany; the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art, Dublin; White Space 798, Beijing; the V&A, London; OCT Loft, Shenzhen; Konsthall C, Farsta, Sweden; Chalk Horse, Sydney; San Antonio Art Gallery, Texas; and Alternative Space Loop, Seoul.