Shihui Gao is a multimedia artist born in Fuzhou, China, and based in Shanghai. Her practice draws on her personal story and explores questions of loneliness and the search for emotional understanding in a post-internet era. She works in a variety of media, including photography, performance, installation and video. “I have felt lonely for a long time, and I have never had a long and serious relationship,” she says. “I explore the emotional loneliness that arises when an individual has no social ties. Having no dependable intimate partner leads to anxiety. The phenomenon “skin hunger” refers to the physical and mental ill-health caused by the lack of human touch. I long to be touched and embraced when I am lonely.”
