Love Letters (winter)

Artist Zhou, Yuge Chinese, b. 1985

Date2021

MediumDigital Video

DimensionsTime: 7 minutes 49 seconds

Credit LineGift of the artist

Object number2023:261

About the ArtistGrowing up in China during the second stage of the country’s economic reform, Yuge Zhou witnessed a massive influx of urban migration, expansion and globalization. She moved to the United States, from East coast to Midwest, creating video art, immersive installations and short films that address rootedness and longing within sites of shared dreams and transient encounters amidst the rush of contemporary life. Love Letters (summer)
and Love Letters (winter) feature a courtship dance between two bodies. The (summer) scene introduces the dancers, played by Sam Crouch (in blue) and Rebecca Huang (in red), who are separated from one another across opposite banks of a postindustrial midwestern US river. The physically distanced lovers signal to one another by full-body gestures and dance motions. They improvise a style of wordless language that no person outside of their relationship could understand.

The (winter) scene uses aerial-view technology to record a chase between the two dancers, still identifiable by blue and red protective winter clothes. Landscape and architecture are supporting characters for both seasons, situating the dancers’ bodies in distinct yet unidentifiable urban milieus while they seek privacy to begin and develop their relationship within an otherwise intense metropolis. Zhou’s Love Letters duet emphasizes the traditional Chinese concept of Yuan 缘 as a fateful intersection leading to a relationship with an uncertain future. Yuge has exhibited and screened nationally and internationally. Recent awards include Juried Award in the installation category at ArtPrize 2021, Artist Fellowship Award in Media Arts from the Illinois Arts Council and Honorary Mention in the 2020 Prix Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria. Her work has been featured in various publications such as the Hyperallergic and The Atlantic. Yuge holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute
of Chicago as well as a Master of Science from Syracuse University.