WORKS ELABORATION:
Ili is my hometown. Urbanization is changing our way of life, and our traditions and culture are also undergoing new challenges and changes. In the face of rapid development, how to define ourselves more clearly? How to perceive ourselves more clearly? In face of the influx of information, how to select and filter them? The collision between traditional and contemporary culture is the direction of this series of works.
TUTOR COMMENT:
Mi Zijian is a young Uighur who grew up in Ili. He has received solid training at the Third Studio of the Oil Painting Department of CAFA, and he has a strong expressive ability in oil painting. His works differ from previous paintings of ethnic minority subjects, as he captures the current lifestyle of Xinjiang through his youthful gaze. His graduation work “Ili” depicts a scene of family life in Ili with both ethnic and modern characteristics. The picture is striking and reveals his love for his homeland and the people living there, his concerns for the real world, as well as traditional ethnic and cultural genes engraved in his heart.
-- Yu Hong