Born and raised in Beijing, Guanyu Xu is an artist and lecturer based in Chicago, Illinois. Moving between photography, new media, and installation, Guanyu’s work centers around his experiences as a gay man, and in particular his experience as a Chinese man in a community dominated by white, masculine homonormativity. In his project “Temporarily Censored Home,” which we featured, Guanyu expresses his frustration with the prejudices he’s faced in the U.S and China. The series sees Gunayu reclaim his childhood home—he was born into a conservative military family—plastering every surface with self-portraits and images of gay male initimacy, only to take it all down before his parents arrived home. Guanyu’s works have been exhibited and screened internationally including at the Aperture Foundation, The Art Institute of Chicago, and New Orleans Museum of Art. His works have also been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, ArtAsiaPacific, The New Yorker, and W Magazine.
Stories with Guanyu Xu