Words by Alanna Frances O'Riley
Photography by The author and Pixy Liao 廖逸君
Read time 5 minutes
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I Loved You is an exhibition at Sydney’s White Rabbit Gallery curated by David Williams. Nestled in the backstreets of Sydney suburb Chippendale, White Rabbit Gallery houses the world’s largest private collection of 21st-century contemporary Chinese art – more than 2500 pieces collected by founder and director Judith Neilson. I Loved You is the gallery’s latest exhibition, devoted to the throes of love; that which has been loved and lost, or what we stand to lose in loving.
The quest for love is universal, yet loves’ form is varied. Familial, romantic, unconditional, controversial; love of others, love of self. I Loved You does not shy from any of loves shapes, using a variety of media to explore each facet. Painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, installation, textiles. Loves’ multiplicities are represented in the breadth of this exhibition, each artist taking on love in a new way. Love is also questioned, who we love and why we love them brought into focus. Power dynamics are inverted (Pixy Liao, The Hug by the Pond, 2010). Those wrongly pushed to shadows are venerated (Shao Yinong + Muchen, Fairy Tales in Red Times, 2003-2007). Carnal and domestic longing are entwined (He An, What Makes Me Understand What I Know, 2009).
The thread that pulls together each artist in I Loved You is devotion. Devotion to practice and process. The devotion only love can ignite; that love requires. And the pain such devotion incurs. A bowl of rice carved from marble (Hou Lien-Chin, Rice Situation, 2012). 241,752 numbers, 30,219 days, lived and written (Li Lang, Father’s 1927.12.03-2010.08.27, 2010-13). Orchids set alight in memorial (Jiang Zhi, Love Letters, 2014). The most profound display of devotion is Gao Rong’s full-scale replica of their grandparents’ home in Inner Mongolia, made entirely out of embroidery (The Static Eternity, 2012). The tiny thirty-metre home is memorialised in each strand, Rong stating ‘I want to put my heart into every stitch.’
In I Loved You, there is a sense of yearning. The yearning of heartache and love lost; the desire to hold on. Each artist has given a piece of themselves to this exhibition, committing themselves to love’s cause. The show is thoughtful and funny and painful. It celebrates and mourns. It is what comes to fill the space where love once lived.
I Loved You is on show at White Rabbit Gallery until 21 November 2022 and available via Virtual Tour, including an AR render of the gallery and audio guide.