Présentation de l'artiste

Ang Li

Ang Li was born in Anhui Province, China. He began his university studies in Beijing, majoring in Computer Science. However, driven by his passion for visual art, he changed his major to Communication then the closest option available at his university despite a one-year academic delay. In 2021, he moved to the UK to pursue an MFA in Creative Documentary by Practice at University College London, graduating in 2023. Since then, Ang's work has been recognized by BAFTA-qualifying international film festivals, like Sheffield DocFest, Visions du Réel, and DokuFest, and exhibited in galleries, like Roseberry Road Studios. His art is calming yet powerful, offering a window into his evolving perspective of the world. Through his work, he invites others to join him on reflective, emotional journeys. Ang values meeting people from different backgrounds and listening to their stories. He is unafraid to challenge authority or question conventional thinking. He believes every piece of art mirrors the artist’s current stage of life, ideas, and emotions ultimately, each creation is a story of the artist themselves.

Artist statement

Laojing is a remote village in Shanxi, China, once known as the filming location of a popular Chinese movie from the 1980s. Despite the country’s rapid development, life in Laojing remained harsh when I first visited in 2018 most households still had no access to electricity or running water. Their struggles were invisible and unimaginable to someone like

me, living a modern life in the 21st century, where such basics are taken for granted. Two of the photos captured a blind man living alone, without family or a caregiver, managing everything on his own since childhood. Another showed village workers returning home in the evening, crowded together in the back of a truck after a day's work in a nearby town. In Chinese,“Laojing” means “old well.” But it’s not the villagers who are trapped in the well we are.