About Hung Liu

About Hung Liu

Hung Liu (b. Changchun, China, 1948 – d. Oakland, California, 2021) was a groundbreaking contemporary artist known for her powerful paintings based primarily on historical Chinese photographs, and her installations addressing the racial and cultural complexities she witnessed upon immigrating to the United States at the age of 36.

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Chronology

Chronology_1948

1948 – 1959

Crossing the River & The Great Leap

Hung Liu is born on February 17, 1948

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Chronology_1980

1980 – 1989

Resident Alien

On October 26, 1984, Liu boards a China Air 747 in Beijing and departs for San Francisco.

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2010 – 2019

Summoning Ghosts

On March 16, 2013, Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu opens at the Oakland Museum of California.

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Selected Works

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Selected publications

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Videos

Hung Liu, 2005

Video

Hung Liu, 2005

See the process behind Hung Liu's series of figurative works that uses images from vintage photographs. KQED Spark.

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Mills College Lecture on occasion of the exhibition "Look Up to the Sky: Hung Liu's Legacy of Mentoring," 2024

Video

Mills College Lecture on occasion of the exhibition "Look Up to the Sky: Hung Liu's Legacy of Mentoring," 2024

Dorothy Moss, Director of the Hung Liu Estate, Rosana Castrillo Diaz, Nicole Phungrasamee Fein, and Mel Prest remembered their teacher and mentor, Hung Liu, sharing stories about her warmth, strength, sense of humor, and the deeply personal impact she had on their lives.

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