David Zink Yi

The oeuvre of the Berlin-based artist David Zink Yi revolves around themes of creation, manifestation, and the construction of identity. Born in Lima in 1973, Zink Yi left Peru for Germany at the age of 16. Drawing inspiration from his own experiences, he interrogates the complex aspects of identity construction through his multi-disciplinary practice; encompassing film, photography, sculpture, performance, ceramics and multi-channel video installations, which all emphasize the social interrelation of the protagonists, as well as physiological aspects of musical perception.

Zink Yi’s art has gained attention for its critical engagement with culturally and emotionally determined actions and experiences. These actions, such as cooking, speaking, dancing, singing, writing and narrating, sketch the complexity of identity, identity-formation and their forms of expression and are most often the performative stimulus for making the works. Over the past decades, the artist has been using natural forms, ritual, music and dance to explore the complex motifs as constructed within cultural traditions. As a medium of expression, the body is often present in the works. It is the place at which the limits between outward and inward experience, between factual history and personal feeling, are drawn.

Over the past few years, Zink Yi has worked within the ceramic tradition to create sculptural works inspired by different molluscs and cephalopods such as octopus fragments, squids and architeuthidae. These elusive animals, with a rich history in myth and fine art, are understood as a complex living species opposite to the human one.