ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist and mother of two, I focus my research and creative practice on domestic labor, spatial experience, household materials, and mother–child relationships. My work spans printmaking, painting, drawing, 16mm film, poetry, fiber work, and artist books.
I often work with everyday domestic materials — such as vacuum dust, kitchen waste, dryer lint, and parchment paper — to explore the rhythms of mothering life, as well as the shifting roles between artist and mother. The images and content of my work are inspired by experiences of childcare and housework.
Through material experimentation, interdisciplinary inquiry, and artistic research, I seek to expand our understanding of mothering life and its spatial, social, and temporal dimensions.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Liya Du (Chinese, b. 1991, Handan, China) earned her BFA in Figure Chinese Painting from the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 2013 and later moved to Italy, where she completed an MFA in Visual Art at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts in 2016. She relocated to Milwaukee in 2024, where she is currently pursuing an MFA in painting & drawing at UW-Milwaukee.
Liya’s practice is primarily focused on painting and drawing, viewing artwork as an immediate reflection of life. She incorporates craft and sewing techniques as acts of meditation, repair, and healing, expanding visual elements through installation and time-based media. She develops household objects that seem worthless in daily life as artistic materials and explores themes of motherhood, domestic labor, and memory. Her work uncovers the woman’s pressure of time and self-identity.
© Liya Du