Yijun Liao
Yijun Liao, also known as Pixy Liao, is a Chinese-American photographer based in Tokyo.
Also recorded as Pixy Liao · Pixy Yijun Liao
Yijun Liao
Bloodypixy · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Pixy Liao (Yijun Liao)
- Birthplace
- Shanghai, China
- Field
- Photography, art
- Training
- University of Memphis
- Awards
- NYFA Fellowship in photography, Santo Foundation Individual Artist Awards, Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival Madame Figaro Women Photographers Award, Enfoco New Works Awards Fellowship, LensCulture Exposure Awards, etc
- Born
- 1979. · Shanghai.
- Nationality
- People's Republic of China.
- Occupation
- photographer.
- Fields
- photography.
- Education
- University of Memphis.
- Honours
- Guggenheim Fellowship.
- Languages
- Chinese.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Yijun Liao, also known as Pixy Liao, is a Chinese-American photographer based in Tokyo.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Yijun Liao (born 1979) is a Chinese photographer. The photographer was born in Shanghai. Yijun Liao is also known as Pixy Liao.
Yijun Liao studied at University of Memphis. The photographer lived in Brooklyn and Shanghai. Yijun Liao is active in photography.
Languages used include Chinese. Works by the photographer are held at National Museum of World Cultures and Picker Art Gallery. Yijun Liao received Guggenheim Fellowship.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q22097318 · wikipedia · Yijun Liao
In this article
Biography
Biography
Yijun Liao studied at University of Memphis. The recorded working language is Chinese. The field of work recorded is photography. Residence is recorded at Shanghai and Brooklyn. Work by Yijun Liao is recorded in the collections of National Museum of World Cultures and Picker Art Gallery. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship.
The Woman Who Clicks The Shutter, 2018
Bloodypixy
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Pixy Liao (Yijun Liao) • Birthplace — Shanghai, China • Field — Photography, art • Training — University of Memphis • Works — Experimental Relationship • Awards — NYFA Fellowship in photography, Santo Foundation Individual Artist Awards, Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival Madame Figaro Women Photographers Award, Enfoco New Works Awards Fellowship, LensCulture Exposure Awards, etc
Biography
Biography
Liao was born in Shanghai. She received an MFA in photography from the University of Memphis in 2008. She currently lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. She has exhibited her work internationally at venues such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Fotografiska, Rencontres d'Arles, the Asia Society, the National Gallery of Australia, and M+ Museum. She is mostly known for her series Experimental Relationship. The series depicts her with her younger Japanese boyfriend and collaborator, Takahiro Morooka (nicknamed Moro). The elaborate photography depicted challenges gender norms in regards to media and sexual expression. Her photography attempts to change the way society sees nudity and media through the lens of a whole new perspective.
Solo exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
• 2008 Experimental Relationship, Adam Shaw Studio, Memphis, TN • 2011 Memphis, Tennessee, Chinese American Art Council, New York City • 2013 The Second Story of Two Stories, Kips Gallery, Seoul, Korea • 2013 Let's Make Love, the Camera Club of New York, New York City • 2015 Experimental Relationship, Circuitous Succession Gallery, Memphis, TN • 2016 Some Words are just between Us, curated by Sophia Cai, First Draft Gallery, Sydney, Austra • 2016 Venus As A Boy, LEO XU Projects, Shanghai, China • 2017 Lady and Gentleman, Galleri Vasli Souza, Malmö, Sweden • 2018 Pixy Liao, curated by Roussell, Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival, Xiamen, China • 2019 Une Relation Expérimentale the Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France • 2019 Experimental Relationship Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia, Italy • 2019 Open Kimono Chambers Fine Art, New York City • 2020 Experimental Relationship (for your eyes only, or maybe mine, too) curated by Henry Lu Centre A, Vancouver, Canada • 2021 Your Gaze Belongs To Me curated by Holly Roussell, Fotografiska, New York • 2021 Your Gaze Belongs To Me curated by Holly Roussell, Fotografiska, Stockholm • 2022 Your Gaze Belongs To Me curated by Holly Roussell, Fotografiska, Tallinn • 2022 Futari (Two Persons) curated by Mary Lee Hodgens, Light Work, Syracuse, NY • 2023 Experimental Relationship, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia • 2024 Pixy Liao: Comfort Zone, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong • 2024 Between Us, curated by Sito Rozema, MORE Museum, Gorssel, Netherlands • 2025 Pixy Liao: Relationship Material, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Group exhibitions
Group exhibitions
• 2015 Evidence, Format International Photography Festival, Derby, UK • 2015 No Holds Barred—Young Contemporary Art from China, curated by Boyi Feng and Lars Jonnson, OPEN ART Biennial, Örebro, Sweden • 2016 The Real Thing, Flowers Gallery, New York City • 2016 WECHAT - A Dialogue in Contemporary Chinese Art, curated by Barbara Pollack, Asia Society Texas Center, Houston, TX • 2016 Bagsim, chi K11 Art Museum in Shanghai, Shanghai, China • 2016 "When We Become Us", Capsule Shanghai • 2017 NSFW: Female Gaze, Museum of Sex, New York • 2019 Holly Mosses, curated by Nick Yu, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong • 2020 The Body Electric, curated by Dr Shaune Lakin, National Gallery of Australia, Sydney • 2020 Home Sweet Home, curated by Julia Reichelt, Kunstforum der TU Darmstadt • 2022 I have not loved (enough or worked), curated by Rachel Cieśla, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia • 2022 I LOVED YOU, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia *2022 Unmasking Masculinity for the 21st Century, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan *2022 Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity, curated by Barbara Pollack with Han Hongzheng, Asia Society, New York *2022 CHOSEN FAMILY – LESS ALONE TOGETHER, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland • 2023 FAMILY (OF CHOICE). THOSE WHO WE ARE, Kunstmuseum Ravensburg, Germany *2023 Personal: A New Form of Documentary Photography, curated by Karen Smith, Shanghai Center of Photography, Shanghai, China • 2024 Shanghai: Capital of Photography 1910s - 2020s, curated by Guzheng, Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China *2024 Love is Louder, Bozar, Brussels, Belgium *2024 Inside Views – Contemporary Photography from China, WestLicht Photography Museum, Vienna, Austria • 2025 Tender Comrades, White Rabbit, Sydney, Australia *2025 Picasso for Asia—A Conversation, M+ Museum, Hong Kong *2025 Facial Recognition, curated by Barbara Pollack, Jane Lombard Gallery, New York
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1979
Yijun Liao born at Shanghai.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Shanghai and Brooklyn.
Residences
Shanghai.
Birth place
Publications
• Experimental Relationship Vol.1 (2007-2017), published by Jiazazhi, 2018 • Pimo Dictionary, published by Jiazazhi, 2018
Collections
Collections
Liao's work is held in the following public collections: • Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, Germany • Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth * Franklin Furnace Archive, USA • Fundació Carmen & Lluís Bassat, Spain • Fundación MEDIANOCHE0, Spain • Fort Wayne Museum of Arts, Indiana • He Xiangning Art Museum, China • Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York • Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan • Light Work, Syracuse, New York • M+ Museum, Hong Kong • Memphis International Airport, Tennessee • Møllersamlingen, Norway • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas • The Kinsey Institute, USA • The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado • The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Kingston, New York • Vontobel Art Collection, Switzerland • White Rabbit Collection, Australia • White Villa Collection, France
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Yijun Liao”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q22097318: Yijun Liao
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Pixy Liao - Blindspot Gallery. Blindspot Gallery. 22 July 2025.
- 2.Pixy Liao Light Work. 14 May 2015.
- 3.Pixy Liao - Blindspot Gallery. Blindspot Gallery. 22 July 2025.
- 4.Annie Stevens. Artist subverts gender norms with clever photography series.
- 5.Couple's Gender-Bending Photo Series Challenges Our View Of Traditional Relationships. HuffPost. 3 February 2014.
- 6.Let’s Make Love Baxter St at CCNY. www.baxterst.org.
- 7.Mark Richens. Pixy Liao explores gender roles in art, relationships in "Experimental Relationship" at Circuitous.
- 8.Sophia Cai. Some words are just between us.
- 9.Lachlan Herd. The Hanging: Some Words Are Just Between Us by Pixy Liao. 9 August 2016.
- 10.Kathleen Linn. Location, The Female Gaze and the Warmth of the Internet. 11 August 2016.
- 11.Arthur Solway. Pixy Liao at Leo Xu Projects.
- 12.Jiahuan Li. Yijun Liao, Venus As A Boy.
- 13.Wenqian. Artist Yijun Liao's first solo show in her hometown.
- 14.Ashleigh Kane. See men and women exchange roles of sex and power in China.
- 15.Pixy Liao - Experimental Relationship. Jimei x Arles International Photography Festival.
- 16.Anglès, Daphné. 6 Photographers to Look Out For at the Arles Festival By Daphné Anglès. The New York Times. 23 July 2019.
- 17.Fotografia Europea : Pixy Liao. www.loeildelaphotographie.com. 14 May 2019.
- 18.Pixy Liao: Open Kimono - Exhibitions - Chambers Fine Art. www.chambersfineart.com.
- 19.Pixy Liao's Radical Intimacy: "Experimental Relationship (For Your Eyes Only, Or Maybe Mine, Too)".
- 20.Pixy Liao, Your Gaze Belongs to Me @Fotografiska.
- 21.Futari exhibit serves as mirror into 16-year artistic relationship. February 2022.
- 22.Pixy Liao’s cheeky photo series Experimental Relationship flips the artist-muse dynamic.
- 23.Pixy Liao: Comfort Zone. Blindspot Gallery.
- 24.Pixy Liao's solo exhibition "Between Us" at MORE Museum, Netherlands. Blindspot Gallery. 22 September 2024.
- 25.Pixy Liao: Relationship Material. The Art Institute of Chicago. 2025-07-26.
- 26.Derby stages top international photographic festival, Format 15.
- 27.Boyi Feng. Pixy Yijun Liao.
- 28.Lara Atallah. The Real Thing.
- 29.Juxtapoz: "The Real Thing" @ Flowers Galery.
- 30.Rebecca Robertson. PDN: Constructing and Deconstructing Romance.
- 31.Nikki Tripp. Chinese Artist Challenges Gender Identities through 'Experimental Relationship'.
- 32.Cindy Lisica. We Chat: A Dialogue in Contemporary Chinese Art.
- 33.Gary Zhexi Zhang. Critic's Guide: Shanghai. 16 August 2016.
- 34.When We Become Us. Capsule Shanghai.
- 35.Sarah Cascone. The Art of NSFW? See Provocative Works of Feminist Erotica From the Museum of Sex. 10 June 2017.
- 36.Kaitlin Chan. Holy Mosses.
- 37.Trautes Heim. 2020-09-01.
- 38.Exhibition review: I have not loved (enough or worked). 2022-12-12.
- 39.Sin Wai Kin's commission work and Pixy Liao's work in M+ exhibition "The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Picasso for Asia". Blindspot Gallery. 14 March 2025.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
She also worked under the name Pixy Liao. Her recorded language was Chinese. Liao received Guggenheim Fellowship.
Identity and origins
Recognition and collections
Work by Yijun Liao is
National Museum of World Cultures and Picker Art Gallery
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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