Exhibition Overview

Expressive Bodies takes the sculptural practice of Liu Shiming as its point of departure, where gesture, bodily presence, and material intersect to prompt a rethinking of the expressive potential of the body. In Liu’s work, the human form carries memory, labor, emotion, and cultural continuity. It is grounded and immediate—caught in the midst of motion or pause, marked by tenderness, resilience, and care. Whether hunched in work, curled in embrace, or poised in quiet reflection,

Liu’s bodies speak through posture and form shaped by

lived experience and rooted in human connection.

 

This exhibition brings together artists who are recipients of

the Liu Shiming Scholarship, as well as students and recent graduates from partner institutions. Their works extend Liu’s attention to the body into new materials, narratives, and frameworks, offering expanded reflections on what it means

to represent, inhabit, and move through the body today. Each artist also contributed a response to a sculpture by Liu, reflecting on its resonance with their own practice.

Artists:​

​Liu Shiming

Andrius Alvarez-Backus, Juliette Roy Batanero,

Jorė Gritėnaitė, Samuel Horgan, JOHANNA, Yiting Li,

Larissa McPherson, Jonathan Wenur, Jordan Winiski, Sachigusa Yasuda, Lite Zhang 

Curator: Ashley Wu

Executive Curator: Melissa Lazarov