About
Artist Bio
Chengwei Xia was born in 1994 in Chengdu, China. She studied and worked in architectural design and research in Hong Kong for six years. In 2021, Chengwei moved to London to study art at the Slade School of Fine Art and received her Master of Art in Fine Art degree in 2022. In 2023, Chengwei completed the Drawing Year at the Royal Drawing School in London. Her practice centers around drawing, painting, making, and writing.
Chengwei Xia was born in 1994 in Chengdu, China. She studied and worked in architectural design and research in Hong Kong for six years. In 2021, Chengwei moved to London to study art at the Slade School of Fine Art and received her Master of Art in Fine Art degree in 2022. In 2023, Chengwei completed the Drawing Year at the Royal Drawing School in London. Her practice centers around drawing, painting, making, and writing.
Artist Statement
My drawings and paintings are about the poetics of everyday life. I imagine I am a poet disguised as a drawer and painter. The act of making is an essential part of my artistic process. I grew up with my grandparents, who taught me the value of making things yourself to sustain life, a habit formed during a time in China when manufactured goods were scarce and self-sufficiency was not a choice but a way of life. My grandma used to make clothes for the whole family. She sewed under the oil light at night after a long day on the farm. My grandpa used to make baskets from bamboo harvested from the forest growing behind the house. I also enjoy making things for myself, such as pickles, hair scrunchies, hats, and scarves. These materials from my daily life find their way into my artworks. For example, the avocado peels and stones I saved from my cooking were used for dyeing my clothes, and the dye bath was used as the ink for my drawing, and I also made lake pigments from the dye bath for drawing and painting. You may also notice wool in my drawings, which is leftover wool from knitting my skirt. I also recycle old drawings and paper from envelopes and packages to create new paper for drawing. Just as my grandparents once transformed raw materials into objects of utility, this heritage of resourcefulness and ingenuity has become the cornerstone of my artistic process.
Among all the materials, plants, in particular, hold a special significance in my practice, serving as a bridge between past and present, self and ancestry. Foraging, growing, or salvaging from food waste, each botanical element carries with it a lineage of cultivation and connection, linking me to my farming roots and the generations who tended the earth before me.
I used to think of drawing as an expression of myself, but now I perceive it as an expression of the materials themselves. A blank sheet of paper is as beautiful and complex as a finished drawing, its fibers whispering tales of growth, transformation, and renewal, and the inks and pigments hold deep mysteries to their existence. The materials have their origins and histories, which they bring with them when I use them to draw. The stories start to unfold and continue on the drawing, becoming integral to the narrative of my art.
My drawings and paintings are about the poetics of everyday life. I imagine I am a poet disguised as a drawer and painter. The act of making is an essential part of my artistic process. I grew up with my grandparents, who taught me the value of making things yourself to sustain life, a habit formed during a time in China when manufactured goods were scarce and self-sufficiency was not a choice but a way of life. My grandma used to make clothes for the whole family. She sewed under the oil light at night after a long day on the farm. My grandpa used to make baskets from bamboo harvested from the forest growing behind the house. I also enjoy making things for myself, such as pickles, hair scrunchies, hats, and scarves. These materials from my daily life find their way into my artworks. For example, the avocado peels and stones I saved from my cooking were used for dyeing my clothes, and the dye bath was used as the ink for my drawing, and I also made lake pigments from the dye bath for drawing and painting. You may also notice wool in my drawings, which is leftover wool from knitting my skirt. I also recycle old drawings and paper from envelopes and packages to create new paper for drawing. Just as my grandparents once transformed raw materials into objects of utility, this heritage of resourcefulness and ingenuity has become the cornerstone of my artistic process.
Among all the materials, plants, in particular, hold a special significance in my practice, serving as a bridge between past and present, self and ancestry. Foraging, growing, or salvaging from food waste, each botanical element carries with it a lineage of cultivation and connection, linking me to my farming roots and the generations who tended the earth before me.
I used to think of drawing as an expression of myself, but now I perceive it as an expression of the materials themselves. A blank sheet of paper is as beautiful and complex as a finished drawing, its fibers whispering tales of growth, transformation, and renewal, and the inks and pigments hold deep mysteries to their existence. The materials have their origins and histories, which they bring with them when I use them to draw. The stories start to unfold and continue on the drawing, becoming integral to the narrative of my art.