CREDITS:
Illustration of Lin Ji by Maria Chen, with original photograph by Shiyi Liu
All Artwork © Lin Ji
“House on Fire” 2023
“Run, Just, Run” 2024
“An Apocalyptic Dream” 2023
“Untitled (ladder)” 2024
“House on Fire” 2023
“Burning Woman On Ladder” 2024
“Untitled (pigeon)” 2024
CNTRFLD.ART explores the innovative work of Lin Ji, a Chinese queer autistic artist based in London whose practice challenges conventional boundaries through painting, performance, and installation. Engaging with themes of devaluation, containment, and the Sisyphean quest for meaning, Lin Ji’s art is deeply intertwined with their intersecting identities. We dive into their latest performance, An Apocalyptic Dream, featured in Always Container, Sometimes Contained, a curated exhibition by TRA Collective. This performance transforms the artist’s body into a vessel for reimagining the tangible and intangible, offering a profound commentary on the potential for liberation and transformation within conventional structures.
CNTRFLD. How has your upbringing in China and your experiences as a queer, autistic individual influenced the themes you explore in your work?
LJ. All three of these things make me feel like an outsider in the world where I now live. I’m most influenced by being autistic, and how it’s like to be detached and dissociated while trying to reconnect my body to my soul.
CNTRFLD. In your performance, An Apocalyptic Dream, you explore the interplay between the tangible container and the intangible space it holds. Could you elaborate on what drew you to this concept and how it reflects your broader artistic practice?
LJ. I imagine my body as a container, emotions and feeling as the intangible space it holds, just like the cello as a container and holds the intangible music. I want to break down the tangible body and see what’s inside, what’s moving and what’s crying out. As an autistic person, I have a diminished sense of agency. I feel less in control of myself and my body. I’m hypersensitive to noise, lights, heat etc, (and have frequent meltdowns because of these sensory issues), and hyposensitive to
picking up on some of my physiological sensations e.g. does not notice hunger, thirst, pain or my emotions. By breaking down my body, or the container, I have a chance to really look into myself, and free all the anger and frustration.
CNTRFLD. Your work often engages with the idea of Sisyphean futile attempts in the search for meaning. How do you navigate the tension between futility and the creative process in your performances and installations?
LJ. I have always been inspired by existentialism. The myth of Sisyphus in which Sisyphus had to bring the boulder up the mountain over and over again, deeply inspired my artistic process and my personal life. I always feel like I’m stuck in a cycle of burnouts, and I can never escape from this painful body no matter how hard I tried. In my performances, never ending cycles and the exploration to infinity has always been the main theme. I keep destructing and reconstructing my reality to survive in this hazardous world.
CNTRFLD. How do your intersecting identities as a queer, autistic artist inform the way you approach the themes of containment and freedom in your work?
LJ. I always feel like I’m trapped in the container of my own body, the emotions and feeling can’t leak out, and the outside world can’t reach me. I long for freedom, freedom of expressing my feelings, freedom of having control of my body, and freedom of being who I am.
CNTRFLD. The notion of breaking down conventional structures is central to your work. What challenges have you faced in attempting to dismantle these structures, both within the art world and in society at large?
LJ. There’re many stigmas towards autistic people and queer people. People have all different kinds of assumptions towards how we would look like and how we act. I want to make artworks AS a queer autistic individual, rather than make works ABOUT queerness and autism. I make works as myself and who I am would naturally runs in the works. Rather than talks about the politics, I would rather show the world my own struggles as an individual.
CNTRFLD. Given your diverse practice, spanning painting, performance, and installation, how do you decide which medium best suits the concepts you wish to explore?
LJ. I always have an image in my head how my works would look like, and based on that image, I decide whether it’s better in 2D or 3D.
CNTRFLD. What advice would you give to emerging artists, particularly those who, like you, might be navigating multiple marginalised identities, in pursuing a life in the arts?
LJ. I would say go to studio every single day, even just to cry there. I see my art practise as running a marathon, you must practise every day and actually doing things every day in order to have the so called “inspirations”. I would also suggest take some time to do something that seems irrelevant, for example go to the nature or go see lots of exhibitions, because you never know when your ideas would come to you in a surprising way.
CNTRFLD. Looking ahead, how do you envision your work evolving? Are there any new themes or concepts you are eager to explore in future projects?
LJ. I would like to explore “repetition”. Repetition as stimming, or as a structure of life. This would probably be illustrated through group performances. I also would like to explore the concept of pain. I can feel pain but because pain happens too often and too much in my life, I’ve learned to experience them, enjoy them and ignore them. Through performance, I would like to explore endurance and the pain in everyday life.
About Lin Ji
Lin Ji is a Chinese queer autistic artist based in London who explores the inevitable devaluation of ideals, purity and purpose through painting, performance and installation. Their practice revolves around the Sisyphean futile attempts in search of meaning and the possibility to move freely, exist, shift and transform.
About TRA collective
TRA Collective is a curatorial collective co-founded by Lanzehang (Lan) Ying and Haijia Blair Luo in 2023, both of whom are independent curators currently based in London. The prefix “TRA” signifies moving beyond and existing in between, capturing the essence of crossing boundaries and borders, and exploring the liminal spaces where new possibilities and perspectives can emerge. Their recent exhibitions include: ‘Always container, sometimes contained,’ Greatorex Street, London (2024); ‘Linger in Silence,’ Willesden Gallery, London (2023); ‘Night Boat,’ Fitzrovia Gallery, London (2023); ‘Invisible Recursion,’ M P Birla Millennium Art Gallery, London (2023).
