DISTINCTION AWARD
BEILI LIU
1974
China / USA
LURE
The ancient Chinese legend of the red thread tells that when children are born, invisible red threads connect them to the ones whom they are fated to be with. Over the years of their lives they come closer and eventually find each other, overcoming the distance between, and cultural and social divides.
Red Thread Legend Series is a group of installations inspired by this tale. Lure is the first project of the series.
The installation Lure makes use of thousands of hand spiralled coils of red thread suspended from the ceiling of the gallery. A coil may be single, or connected to another, as a “couple”, and each pair is made from a single thread. Every coil is pierced in the centre by a sewing needle. Lure speaks of universal human conditions and experiences of “connection”, and the hopefulness of this “connection” that surpasses our differences.
