His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, the 3rd Bucharest Biennale in 2008; The Map: Navigating the Present at Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden; Museumsnacht in St Gallen, Switzerland; Where Memories Take Me at the Petra Rietz Salon, Berlin; Central Asian Project at Space, London and Cornerhouse, Manchester; and Liminal Britain at San Antonio Art Gallery, Texas.
Li's practice encompasses film, photography, video installation and performance. Drawing inspiration from archives, world histories, anecdotes, chance encounters and the figments of imagination, Li's work explores the politics of space and the poetics of time, and is characterised by the interplay between the public and the private, the global and the local, and the personal and the political.
Li has undertaken residencies in Kazakhstan, China, the New Forest, UK and in New York City. He has participated in numerous symposiums including Tate Modern, The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Li's work is included in Charlotte Cotton's The Photograph as Contemporary Art (Thames and Hudson). In 2007, Li published a major monograph of his work The Mother of All Journeys (Dewi Lewis Publishing), and was short-listed in the same year for the Contemporary Book Award at the Rencontres d'Arles Awards. He is an ArtSway Associate.
Dinu li en el m ster europeo de fotograf a de autor
Life and work
Li was born in Hong Kong. He gained a BA in Photography from Liverpool John Moores University, 2001.
Key works
Secret Shadows, 2002
Age of Transition, 2005
Press The Star, Then Say Hello, 2007
Episodes of Time, 2007
Chronicle of a Dream Foretold, 2007
Slightly Less Than Four Times The Size of Texas, 2007
The Mother of All Journeys, 2007
Ancestral Nation, 2007
Family Village, 2009
Publications
Ten Thousand Li, exhibition catalogue, Open Eye Gallery, 2002.
As If I Were A River, exhibition catalogue, CITE, 2003.
The Photograph as Contemporary Art, Thames & Hudson, 2004, ISBN 978-0-500-20380-4
Necessary Journeys, Arts Council England in association with bfi, 2005, ISBN 0-7287-1112-5
The Mother of All Journeys, Dewi Lewis, 2007, ISBN 978-1-904587-41-5
Making Worlds- Participating Countries Collateral Events, Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, 2009. Official Catalogue for 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, ISBN 9788831796965
Family Village, with texts by Theresa Gleadowe, Peter Bonnell, Stephanie James, Steve Pharaoh, text+work, AUCB, and ArtSway, ISBN 978-0-901196-34-7
ArtSway's New Forest Pavilion: a collateral event of the 53rd international art exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, ArtSway and text +work (the Arts Institute at Bournemouth), 2009, illustrated catalogue featuring an essay on Dinu Li by Dr. Jean Wainwright. ISBN 978-0-9558406-5-4 (ArtSway) / ISBN 978-0-901196-38-5 (text+work, the Arts Institute at Bournemouth).
Solo exhibitions
2004 Outside Are Our Dreams, Chapman Gallery, Salford, UK
2005 As If I Were A River, Bury Arts Gallery & Museum, UK
2005 Age of Transition, BCA Gallery, Bedford, UK
2007 Chronicle of a Dream Foretold, The Bigger Picture, Manchester, UK
2007 The Mother of All Journeys, 42 New Briggate, Leeds, UK
2008 Where Memories Take Me, Petra rietz Salon, Berlin
2008 Press The Star, Then Say Hello, Manchester Art Gallery, UK
2008 The Mother of All Journeys, Museumsnacht, St Gallen, Switzerland
2008 Ancestral Nation, ArtSway, UK
2009 The Mother of All Journeys, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong
2009 Family Village, text + work, the Gallery, Arts University Bournemouth, UK
2009 Family Village, Danielle Arnaud, London
2010 Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is Mystery, QUAD, Derby, UK
Selected group exhibitions
2002 Ten Thousand Li, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool; Photofusion, London; Impressions Gallery, York; Folly Gallery, Lancaster; Collins Gallery, Glasgow.
2004 River Journeys, The Lowry, Salford
2004 Trace, Hirschl Gallery, London
2004 Family Stories, White Space 798, Beijing
2004 Home, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery; Artsdepot, London; Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery; Derby Museum and Art Gallery; Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester
2004 Assembly, Liverpool Biennale
2005 Open ev+a 2005, St. Mary's Chapel, Limerick
2005 Escaping: Fugitive Geography, Contact Foto Fest 05 Toronto
