Hung Liu: Living Memory

Hung Liu, End of the Day to Weight, 2016

I paint from historical photographs of people; the majority of them had no name, no bio, no story left. Nothing. I feel they are kind of lost souls, spirit-ghosts. My painting is a memorial site for them.
Artist Hung Liu

Chinese-born American artist Hung Liu (Born in Changchun, China, 1948 – 2021) portrayed individuals who risked being forgotten in death as in life. As a child, Liu lived under the regime of Mao Zedong, who led the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976), a turbulent period of political and social upheaval in the People’s Republic of China. It was during this time that Liu realized photography’s significance when she witnessed her mother burn cherished family photographs, or otherwise risk persecution for being “bourgeois,” or not working class.

As an adult, Liu immigrated to the United States, where she focused on the photographs of the Chinese people who came before her. By manipulating and recontextualizing found images by dripping, splattering, and layering materials, Liu blurred the lines between representation and abstraction and probed photography’s role in shaping collective memory.

Hung Liu: Living Memory explores the artist’s ability to bridge past and present by manipulating the threads of visual memory. Her sensitive portraits illuminate what it means to be Chinese, to be American, and to be a woman. These testimonials make visible the faces of the forgotten. Liu’s portraits remind us that memory is not merely a repository of the past; it is a dynamic force that inflects the past, informs the present, and shapes our future, forging our sense of self while connecting us to the greater human consciousness.

TOP IMAGE: Hung Liu, Scattered Seed II (detail), 2015. Color lithograph with aluminum leaf, 22 1/4 × 44 1/2 inches (56.52 × 113.03 cm). Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio; 2022.28.23. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Hung Liu, Official Portraits: Proletarian, 2006. Color lithograph and collage with chine collé on paper, 30 1/4 × 30 inches (76.84 × 76.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.9. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Grandfather's Mountain: The Stone Table, 2013. Single-color lithograph with chine collé and hand coloring on paper, 24 × 20 inches (60.96 × 50.8 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.5. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Happy and Gay: Kite, 2012. Color aquatint etching on paper, 24 × 20 inches (60.96 × 50.8 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.14. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Clarence Weems, 2018. Pigment print with aluminum leaf on paper, color trial proof 3/4, 30 × 30 inches (76.2 × 76.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.24. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Fortune, 2015. Two-color lithograph with gold leaf on paper, edition 4/10, 14 × 16 inches (35.56 × 40.64 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.2. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Golden Autumn, 2019. Archival pigment print with gold leaf on paper, artist's proof 2/2, 25 3/4 × 26 inches (65.41 × 66.04 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.10. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Happy and Gay: Flag, 2012. Color aquatint etching on paper, 15 × 12 inches (38.1 × 30.48 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.13. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Grandfather's Mountain: The Rock, 2013. Single-color lithograph with chine collé on paper, 24 × 20 inches (60.96 × 50.8 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio; 2022.28.6. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Happy and Gay: Thanks Mama, 2012. Color aquatint etching on paper, 24 × 20 inches (60.96 × 50.8 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.15; © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Peking Opera, 1997. Screenprint on paper, color trial proof, 20 1/2 × 30 inches (52.07 × 76.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.18. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Say My Name, 2013. Three-color lithograph on paper, edition 7/15, 22 1/4 × 23 1/2 inches (56.52 × 59.69 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio; 2022.28.16, © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Trademark, 1992. Screenprint on paper, 16 1/2 × 26 inches (41.91 × 66.04 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.19. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Women Off Color, 1994. Screenprint with metallic ink on paper, 22 1/4 × 30 inches (56.52 × 76.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio; 2022.28.20. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Unofficial Portraits: The Martyr, 2001. Color lithograph with collage, 30 × 30 inches (76.2 × 76.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio; 2022.28.7. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hung Liu, Storyteller, 2000. Oil on canvas, 77 × 77 inches (195.58 × 195.58 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Michael Carroll (A.B.’88, P’23) and Tonya Turner Carroll (P’23) (Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico) in honor of Hung Liu as a person, and as an inspiration to the next generation of artists.
Hung Liu, Crossing the River, Chasing, 2003. Color lithograph on paper, artist's proof 6/6, 30 × 30 inches (76.2 × 76.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Turner Carroll Gallery and Hung Liu Studio, 2022.28.8. © Hung Liu Estate/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Support

Hung Liu: Living Memory is made possible by Ruth (A.B.’81, P’11) and John Caccavale (A.B.’81, P’11); and the Sunny Rosenberg Endowment Fund.

Duke Student co-curators FAR BACK: Bailes New. FRONT, FROM LEFT: Madeleine Reinhard, Elayna Lei, Eliza Henne and Nicole Kagan. Photo by Cornell Watson.

This exhibition was created through the Curatorial Practicum: Development and Design course, taught by Ellen C. Raimond, Associate Curator of Academic Initiatives, in the Museum Theory & Practice Concentration.The student co-curators, all part of Duke’s Class of 2024, are Eliza Henne, Nicole Kagan, Elayna Lei, Bailes New and Madeleine Reinhard.

Installation view of Hung Liu: Living Memory, February 24 – June 16, 2024. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Photo by Brian Quinby.
Installation view of Hung Liu: Living Memory, February 24 – June 16, 2024. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Photo by Brian Quinby.
Installation view of Hung Liu: Living Memory, February 24 – June 16, 2024. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Photo by Brian Quinby.
Installation view of Hung Liu: Living Memory, February 24 – June 16, 2024. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Photo by Brian Quinby.
Installation view of Hung Liu: Living Memory, February 24 – June 16, 2024. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Photo by Brian Quinby.
Installation view of Hung Liu: Living Memory, February 24 – June 16, 2024. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Photo by Brian Quinby.
Installation view of Hung Liu: Living Memory, February 24 – June 16, 2024. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Photo by Brian Quinby.
Installation view of Hung Liu: Living Memory, February 24 – June 16, 2024. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Photo by Brian Quinby.
Gallery Installation Photos by Brian Quinby