Pixy Liao for French Fries F/W 21/22 The Hotel California issue
Interview Matthew Burgos / matthewburgos
When Pixy Liao flew to Memphis from Shanghai, her conceptions of the city relied on the American and Western movies and TV flicks she had consumed in her Eastern den. When the Chinese artist and photographer stepped out of the airport and roamed around, she marveled at psychedelic neon signages on the streets, multiplying as she rocked back and forth, a testament to the Hollywood portrayal of the city. As she wandered from Memphis to New York City, Liao grappled with the realization that underneath the country’s beauty lied danger, depression, and boredom.
To battle the persisting monotony the four walls of her apartment closed her in - more so during the crash of the pandemic - Liao turned to photography to divulge the layers of intimacy, culture, humor, and dominance. The hypnotism of her projects - from capturing the American lifestyle in Memphis to photographing the life she lives with her Japanese partner - pulses through every image she takes, unveiling the fragrance and sight of wonder, beliefs, and solace charged with her novelty that cuts through metaphors of love in a modern-age practice, and wrestles with the opulent flush of an immigrant’s life.
Fringed with narratives that ground the foundations of a diary rather than a guidebook, the compendiums of Liao usher the audience onto the dissipation of trepidation one may have invoked in relationships with varying ages and people, the reverence for a foreign wilderness only up to a point of gaping at the sceneries from afar, and the documentation of the folds and cuts in upbringings and cultures to carve a path for personal, spiritual, and psychological expansion. In our interview with the photographer, Pixy Liao escapes from the public’s grandeur over her anthologies to look inward and ruminate over the shakes of her image-carpeted pursuits.
Matthew Burgos: Before writing these questions for you, I went to your About page to learn the basics. As a Shanghai-born and New York-based photographer, does migration influence your photography? How do the places you visit and the people you meet affect your perception and beliefs in photography?
Pixy Liao: I went to the US to learn photography, and after graduation, we moved to New York. Moving across the continent gave me an opportunity to explore my own interests without the social pressure one usually feels when at home. And it helps me think from an outsider’s point of view that I am an outsider living in the country that I live right now, and I am outside of my home country.
MB: Moving to your Photos section, you have three compendiums that I would love to learn more about. In Memphis, Tennessee (2006-2008), you wrote: I went to Memphis without the least idea of what it is like and it has a unique beauty that is untouched by time. It allowed me to have a glimpse of the city from the past and fueled my imagination of an America of another time. Do you fear the unknown? How did you assimilate in a foreign city? What did you mean by ‘untouched by time’? Also, what were your perceptions before coming to the US, and how did these change over time?
PL: On the contrary, I embraced the unknown. My favorite quote is ‘I open myself to extreme possibilities.’ The unknown brings possibilities to me. To be honest, I had little idea about what Memphis was before I went there, except that Elvis lived there. It took me more than a year to get used to Memphis. I familiarised myself with the new city by traveling and photographing the place. The Memphis, Tennessee project was a result of that.
I grew up in Shanghai. It is a rapidly changing city. I like Memphis because you can still imagine what it looked like in the 50s or 60s. You can go to the bars where all the blues legends used to play, and they might still serve the same burger. It is almost like a time capsule.
Before coming to the US, all my impressions of the country came from the American films and music I liked. It is a very romanticised version of the US. It is just vibrance and beauty. Only after I came to the US that I started to realise there was a darker side of it. I started to realise that the withered beauty sometimes also means danger and depression.
MB: At this point, we are now crossing the borders of intimacy with For Your Eyes Only (2012 - now). Your interest in the mundane life, in finding things and making fun of it, liberating it from what it is, has spurred this visual love letter to an intimate lover. First, why did you conceive such a title for this series? What were your discoveries about the mundane life that surprised you the most? How do you define liberation, and how does it infiltrate your photography? How would you express your intimacy to a lover if photographs were out of the picture?
PL: I look for fun in daily life - that is my way of overcoming boredom. For Your Eyes Only serves the purpose of letting me enjoy the process of pure image making and also play with daily life. It is not as specific as my other project Experimental Relationship. Although my humour and attitude do not change. The images are leaning towards intimacy, some are only suitable to be viewed by lovers. That’s why it is called For Your Eyes Only. The photos are details that happen in daily life sometimes in the most intimate settings. Without photos, I guess the way to express intimacy are also details, just without being photographed.
MB: Such a concept continues in Experimental Relationship (2007- Now), but to varying degrees. From this stage, I would love to explore the nuances of this collection. First, how did the thinking ‘I used to think I could only love someone who is older and more mature than me’ originate? What was the role of your cultural background here and that of Moro’s?
PL: Yes, the project stems from my doubts about why in the society I grew up in - in most relationships - men are older and more mature. It is not encouraged - but now it is becoming more common - for a woman to date a man who is younger than her. People would say that it would be great if a wife can find a husband who can take care of them.
MB: Moro, your partner is five years younger than you and which you described: I felt that the whole concept of relationships changed, all the way around. I became a person who has more authority & power. Do power and authority in a relationship matter? How does age affect the way you communicate with and treat each other?
PL: There is always going to be some kind of power balance in any relationship. In my case, because I am five years older than my partner, when I met him, we had a lot of differences in our experiences. I was more like an adult who had worked before and in graduate school, and he was still a boy who just graduated from high school in undergraduate.
In the beginning, that naturally made me the one who had more power or authority, or simply the experience to be the dominant person in our relationship. I became the mature partner in our relationship - that is something different than what I was used to or had expected.
MB: As this series explores the alternative possibilities of and questions the norms of heterosexual relationships, what have been your realizations in your relationship? How do these thoughts guide your approach to this series?
PL: I think this project is more like a notebook of my thoughts on relationships rather than a guidebook. I am curious to see different situations, that is why I make these images. They are not in one direction - sometimes different directions, sometimes coming back, sometimes going forward. It all relates to what I was feeling in a relationship and what I was thinking at that time.
MB: Moro is Japanese and you are Chinese, and this project also describes a love and hate relationship, as you pointed out in the description of this series. Do your different cultural backgrounds and upbringings play a role in your relationship? What elements of your relationship do you find fascinating or interesting?
PL: Moro is the first Japanese person that I got to know. Before meeting him, I honestly did not have a good impression on Japanese men due to their media coverage in China. So did he. The start of our relationship helped us to set our biases aside. I started to learn about and get interested in Japanese culture after being with him. Many of my inspirations come from Japan. I enjoy finding the similarities and differences in our cultures.
MB: Going to your upcoming projects, what are the ones that you look forward to? How do you prepare for them?
PL: I do not prepare for future projects. Even if I wanted to, I just could not follow a plan. It all depends on my interest at that time and it shifts. And the ideas either come suddenly or not come. All I can do is to live and wait for them. I trust that life will bring them to me eventually.
MB: In French Fries Magazine, we have started the series French Fries: Women’s Backstories to narrate the daring stories of female photographers across the globe who are breaking boundaries and cultural norms in photography. As a woman photographer, what has been your most striking experience in the industry, so far? What are the politics behind the industry that are hidden from the public?
PL: A woman photographer is a label - it is a blessing and a curse to a woman photographer. Sometimes, you get a chance to show your work because you are a woman, but sometimes, you also wonder if you are there because they just need some women.
MB: Before moving to your next project, I would love to know: how do you like your French fries?
PL: I am not for French fries, but I guess I will take it anyways.
What is this French Fries series about?
What runs behind the lens remains unspoken and concealed unless each narrative unfolds in a series of heartfelt stories, humble beginnings, fiery passion, and divine yearning to capture the impermanence of time. At French Fries Magazine, we desire to kindle, if not to reignite, the depth of the iceberg and the substance of the women photographers who aspire not only to let the impermanence of time be captured to linger, but to leave footprints and be remembered in our digital-connected reality. It is no longer enough that we marvel at the photoshoots they have done, productions they have designed, and commissions they have worked on to unravel the beauty and glam of the art, culture, and fashion themes that they had in mind. This time, we fuse our voice with the women’s backstories to concoct revelations that resonate to our diverse readers across the world.
We wonder about what goes through the conception of their concept, the founding of their mindset, the grounding of their ethics, and the valor of their character as a photographer and creative. We strive to ask questions that dig beyond the surface, open up their emotions, and strip their narratives bare. While we touch on the common questions a publication asks to a photographer in an interview, French Fries Magazine barrels through every nuance that affects the women photographers’ artistry and craft, from their personal experiences with what goes behind the industry that the public fails to know about to the euphoria they emit throughout their creative journey. We envision interviews where they lay down their camera on a coffee table as we position two chairs that sit adjacent to one another and host candid conversations over a platter of french fries.
We want to cross boundaries and break limits through intimate stories sourced from raw, pure, and translucent storytelling. We yearn to echo the plots of our women photographers and amplify them to inspire and influence women of all ages, ethnicities, and identities. We anchor to bring forth a communion of hardship, history, fruition, and faults behind the art, culture, design, and fashion visuals women photographers deliver for mass consumption. We invite you to embark on this voyage with us.
Welcome to French Fries with Photographers: Women’s Backstories.
