Radical Return — Mary Y. Yang

Curation, exhibition design, visual identityRadical Return

Curated and organized by Mary Y. Yang and Zhongkai Li

IS A GALLERY and Boston University Art Galleries
Shanghai, China and Boston, MA, 2021
Exhibition photography: Tony Luong (BU Art Galleries) and Junli Chen (IS A GALLERY)

The first project is Radical Return, an exhibition that draws inspiration from the Chinese character 回 hui, which means to return, to turn around, to circle or to reply. To return implies movement, but the one who is returning must choose the direction. Why does one return to something, someone, or somewhere?

An international call for submissions prompted participants to use 回 as a grid—visually and conceptually—to frame their response to the exhibition theme. Radical Return urges participants to consider a path they seek to retrace as Chinese or Chinese American artists. The selected work features 36 Chinese and Chinese American artists and graphic designers who explore acts of return through language, tradition, memory, identity, and history. This group of artists works across a range of media to embrace, challenge, and expand what it means to “return” in their artistic practice and in relation to their positions in the world today. The exhibition opens up a collective space to probe our societal traditions and cultures.

Read about the exhibition

✸ Funded by a Mass Cultural Council grant
✸ Communication Arts Design Award for exhibition design
✸ Highlighted in The Boston Globe and WBUR, Boston’s NPR station
✸ Featured in Design360° Magazine No. 103, imperfect index vol. 1, and The Type T42