He wrote me that the Japanese secret-what Lévi-Strauss had called the poignancy of things-implied the faculty of communion with things, of entering into them, of being them for a moment. It was normal that in their turn they should be like us: perishable and immortal. - Chris Marker, Sans Soleil

Motinternational Brussels is delighted to present Aishan Yu’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Continuing her ongoing series Others, the artist will present recent drawings.

Yu re-interprets historical documentary photographs, such as the works of the German photographer Hedda Morrisson, who travelled extensively throughout China in the early 20th century. The artist’s drawings are feats of incredible detail and precision, and via this method she seeks to overcome the distance of the ‘Others’ in the title; to meet the subject and bring about a moment of intimacy, even reciprocity. The act of copying becomes a form of immersion, even as the anonymity and ambiguity of the title is upheld. Her methodical drawing process becomes a way to take possession of interwoven histories, technologies and traditions, creating a form that is her own.

In images such as Others 18, the artist’s meticulous, photorealistic transcription of the original (Henry Arthur Herbert’s Interior, ca, 1865 in ‘The Golden Age of Photography’) is disrupted by smudged pencil smears around the edge of the image, revealing the artist’s hand. Placing importance on temporality, Yu disrupts any sense of nostalgia with marks of the present; spots of paint or lines of ink juxtapose the quick hand with the slow.

Aishan Yu was born in 1981 in Chongqing, China. She lives and works in London. Recent exhibitions include Dog Days I, Motinternational, London (2013); Setsuko Hara, Oriel Sycharth, Wrexham (2013); Zardoz, Mot Projects, London (2012); Jerwood Drawing Prize, Jerwood Space, London (2012); Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London (2012) Islets of Langerhans, Hosted In Athens, Athens (2012); Living Room Cinema, London (2011).