Wanying Li

About

My research-oriented practice primarily explores themes such as internet culture, early 21st-century Lo-Fi aesthetics, linguistics, and cross-cultural communication.

My work SEMANTIC ERROR aims to demonstrate the complexity of understanding and communication in a cross-cultural context, based on my experience as a foreign student in London. I was particularly inspired by the miscommunications resulting from language translation and the mistranslated signage in two languages that I observed both in China and the UK. With these references, this project integrates the differences in language and culture into a series of visual research through image collages, text comparisons, and graphic elements, aiming to stimulate empathetic thinking in cross-cultural communication by highlighting these differences.

In addition, I focus on exploring how the digital and physical worlds jointly shape our experiences and perceptions of reality and the self. As the boundary between digital and physical becomes increasingly blurred, I am particularly interested in how digital interfaces reshape contemporary human identity, going beyond their original function as mere tools. By critically examining human existence across various interfaces, including social media and online gaming, my work Fantasy Land questions the shifting nature of human identity, continuously shaped by hybrid contexts, and explores how we maintain our sense of self amidst change.