YAO Qingmei (Zhejiang, 1982) currently lives and works in Wenzhou and Paris. She achieved DNSEP with honors from Villa Arson, Nice, France in 2013, and was awarded the winner of Prix spécial du jury at the 59th Salon de Montrouge in 2014 in France, the Prize “ Young Chinese Artist of the Year”in 2017 in China, the 68th Prix Jeune Création of Paris in 2018 and Asian Cultural Council New York Fellowship in 2022.

YAO Qingmei’s practice traverses the boundary between performance and its site, frequently enacting intervention in public space to perturb the parameters of its reality and surroundings. Her art is deep-rooted in a critical reflection into the formulation of political and social questions, exploring how symbolic gestures gain or lose power through forms of appropriation and displacement. Here, humor plays an important role in her work, using the poetics of comedy to expose the absurdity of a particular issue. Offering different methods of resistance, her theatrical performances and interventions find their form in an area overlapping burlesque traditions of satire and parody, which combine with framing devices influenced by theatee sets and costume, pedagogical lectures, the dialectic between image and text,choreography inspired by modern dance.

About the work: 

YAO Qingmei extended an invitation to a retired Chinese female soprano, previously a member of the Liberation Army Cultural Troupe, who now resides in France, to perform the patriotic song I Love You, China. This song was initially featured in the 1979 film Overseas Children海外赤子, a poignant narrative about Chinese Malaysians returning to Hainan Island in China during the “open door” period in the recent Chinese history. 

YAO's video masterfully captures the elegantly attired singer as she takes the stage; a representation of poised grace and anticipation. As the lofty musical prelude commences, the singer summons her emotional depth, poised to deliver the opening note. However, in a startling twist, the artist  disrupts her just at this pivotal moment. The music halts abruptly, only to recommence, leading to a repetition of this sequence. The soprano's demeanor and expression are laden with potent ideology and symbolism. The film places particular emphasis on the palpable tension preceding the performance and its sudden dissipation. Viewers are privy only to her emotional journey and physical adjustments as she oscillates between a state of initial anxiety and subsequent relaxation, highlighting the contrast between these repeated instances. This video was filmed in the Paris Chinese Cultural Center's theater, further enhancing its cultural significance in the present.