Recently, The PVLSE team warmly welcomed Hanfei Yu, winner of the first and second prize in the Arts Category of the 2022 PVLSE Summer Writing and Arts Competition, to talk about her inspirations and winning pieces. Hanfei Yu currently lives in Beijing and is a high school junior student. When asked why she started drawing, she said:
“I first pick up drawing during 7th grade, because many of my friends are joining the art class, so I joined it with them. After time, I really enjoy spending my time doing art and drawing whatever I want. My inspiration on arts are mainly on events happening in my life like someone I met, books or movies I watched, or even a quote I found.”
Hanfei is not only inspired by the books and events she has encountered, but she also is an avid self-reflector. Through her artwork, Mirror, Hanfei strives to express the difficulty of truly knowing oneself.
“I want to expressed a feeling that it is hard to know who we actually are, what we want, and what we will be, etc. so the girl is looking into the mirror, to herself, trying to see through herself and know more about herself. Trying to bring the audience to actually think about themselves, so they can have different interpretation and takeaways from the art.”
Hanfei also uses a specific type of line segment in Mirror to enhance the aesthetics of the piece.
“[…] the regular line segments are supposed to represent a mirror that is made up of small square mirror pieces (the one often used as decoration) I believe it will look better than a whole piece of mirror.”
Apart from trying to evoke a certain emotion in her audience, Hanfei also likes to capture moments in life through her artwork. Her award-winning piece, Balloon, is such an example.
“[I am] trying to convey a mood of happiness, to record down feeling and ‘life’ of a teenage girl. There isn’t a deep meaning behind this work.”
Hanfei’s wish to convey a cheerful tone was not the only reason that encouraged her to create Balloon. She was also inspired by paintings she saw before.
“The picture is illustrated from a perspective that is in a valley. It is actually inspired by another painting I found online. I like to use space in my arts, to have something at the front, at the middle and at [the] back. I think it makes artwork look better and more complete. Also the color comparison makes the artwork more complete.”
Lastly, when Hanfei was asked what she felt when she won first and second prize of the competition, she said:
“I was quite amazed when I realized two of my artworks are being selected. Thanks for the opportunity!”
Once again, congratulations to Hanfei and thank you for taking the time to join The PLVSE team for the interview.