SIYU AWARD
SIYU AWARD
SIYU AWARD

Tianyu Wang – SIYU AWARD 2025
Hiding and Seeking

In 1995, the World Conference on Women was held in China. Since then, the feminist movement has increasingly focused on activities in public spaces. With the rise of the internet, more and more young people have begun to recognize and oppose various forms of violence legitimized by patriarchy, rooted in traditional disciplines in different forms. In my work, I use performance art as the creative process and images as the medium to create the series “Hiding and Seeking,” with the hope of provoking reflection. In the project, I use human postures, gestures, and everyday household items as entry points. I focus on the invisible violence and oppression faced by women within the family environment. On the one hand, I photograph myself as the subject to reconstruct the “postures women are expected to take in their daily lives.” This is a way to deconstruct and resist the oppression women still face from traditional disciplines. On the other hand, by recalling scenes of violence in my family, I channel the physical reactions and the trauma triggered by that violence. Even though it happened a long time ago, I realize it is still imprinted on me. The body’s reactions and resistance, though personal, become political through my experiences. I use posture itself as a tool to speak, addressing violence against women on a larger scale. By presenting scenarios that blur the line between reality and imagination, I symbolically hint at a self that is imprisoned, oppressed, and resisting within the closed family environment. By playing with everyday moments and deconstructing the facade of traditional family life and the discipline imposed on women, my work reflects on the power dynamics within the traditional binary structures represented in the home.

«Le jury a été unanime sur la sélection du projet de Tianyu Wang, Hiding and Seeking. Il n’y a pas eu de débat, c’était clair. Son projet est clairement sorti du lot; un projet esthétiquement très original avec un concept, une thématique traitée d’une manière très personnelle et unique. Je me souviens que son projet m’a interpelé et intrigué dès la première phase de sélection, au milieu de centaines de dossiers. Ses images sont restées dans ma tête plusieurs jours, comme une sorte d’intrigue qu’il fallait résoudre. Il y avait dans ses images quelque chose de complexe, une lecture à plusieurs niveaux, que j’ai trouvé très intéressant. Un mélange de mystère, de beauté et d’engagement personnel que j’ai trouvé très important d’encourager et de féliciter. Je me réjouis de découvrir la suite de son travail….Bravo!»
 
Virginie Rebetez, Künstlerin und Fotografin Lausanne, Jury SIYU AWARD 2025
 
 
«Tianyu Wang greift ein Thema auf, das leider immer noch so aktuell ist. Sie tut das auf eine Art, die uns überrascht und berührt hat. In einer Auswahl aus vielen starken, oft dokumentarischen Arbeiten, fällt ihre Herangehensweise besonders auf: mutig, eigenwillig, verspielt und gleichzeitig tief reflektiert. Sie verbindet Körper, Objekt und Raum auf neue Weise und schafft es damit, ein komplexes Thema mit Kraft, Sensibilität und visueller Intelligenz zu erzählen.»
 
Lisa Schneider, Agenturleitung 13PHOTO, Jury SIYU AWARD 2025
 
 
Tianyu Wang recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Photography from ECAL and is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, Zibo, China, and Paris, France. Her work revolves around bodily experiences and phenomena of consciousness, taking the uncomfortable feelings of everyday life as a starting point and developing toward surrealism and fantasy, sometimes even grotesque directions. This approach aims to disrupt and dissolve the inherent properties and functions of things from both visual and narrative perspectives, using the mundane to confront the mundane. In her creation, actions serve as the narrative occurrence, and images are created as a result. Through such “New Photographic Actions,” she opposes everything she disapproves of with everything she endorses. Her work navigates the “gaps” between memory, experience, and imagination, creating fluid narratives with multilayered meanings characterized by heartfelt imagery. In her works, photography is the “gap” between the internal and external realms. Through this process, she connects personal experiences with collective history, transforming personalized consciousness into shared awareness. Her creations are influenced by the folklore of her hometown and by art history and psychology.

Tianyu Wang – SIYU AWARD 2025
Hiding and Seeking

In 1995, the World Conference on Women was held in China. Since then, the feminist movement has increasingly focused on activities in public spaces. With the rise of the internet, more and more young people have begun to recognize and oppose various forms of violence legitimized by patriarchy, rooted in traditional disciplines in different forms. In my work, I use performance art as the creative process and images as the medium to create the series “Hiding and Seeking,” with the hope of provoking reflection. In the project, I use human postures, gestures, and everyday household items as entry points. I focus on the invisible violence and oppression faced by women within the family environment. On the one hand, I photograph myself as the subject to reconstruct the “postures women are expected to take in their daily lives.” This is a way to deconstruct and resist the oppression women still face from traditional disciplines. On the other hand, by recalling scenes of violence in my family, I channel the physical reactions and the trauma triggered by that violence. Even though it happened a long time ago, I realize it is still imprinted on me. The body’s reactions and resistance, though personal, become political through my experiences. I use posture itself as a tool to speak, addressing violence against women on a larger scale. By presenting scenarios that blur the line between reality and imagination, I symbolically hint at a self that is imprisoned, oppressed, and resisting within the closed family environment. By playing with everyday moments and deconstructing the facade of traditional family life and the discipline imposed on women, my work reflects on the power dynamics within the traditional binary structures represented in the home.

«Le jury a été unanime sur la sélection du projet de Tianyu Wang, Hiding and Seeking. Il n’y a pas eu de débat, c’était clair. Son projet est clairement sorti du lot; un projet esthétiquement très original avec un concept, une thématique traitée d’une manière très personnelle et unique. Je me souviens que son projet m’a interpelé et intrigué dès la première phase de sélection, au milieu de centaines de dossiers. Ses images sont restées dans ma tête plusieurs jours, comme une sorte d’intrigue qu’il fallait résoudre. Il y avait dans ses images quelque chose de complexe, une lecture à plusieurs niveaux, que j’ai trouvé très intéressant. Un mélange de mystère, de beauté et d’engagement personnel que j’ai trouvé très important d’encourager et de féliciter. Je me réjouis de découvrir la suite de son travail….Bravo!»
 
Virginie Rebetez, Künstlerin und Fotografin Lausanne, Jury SIYU AWARD 2025
 
 
«Tianyu Wang greift ein Thema auf, das leider immer noch so aktuell ist. Sie tut das auf eine Art, die uns überrascht und berührt hat. In einer Auswahl aus vielen starken, oft dokumentarischen Arbeiten, fällt ihre Herangehensweise besonders auf: mutig, eigenwillig, verspielt und gleichzeitig tief reflektiert. Sie verbindet Körper, Objekt und Raum auf neue Weise und schafft es damit, ein komplexes Thema mit Kraft, Sensibilität und visueller Intelligenz zu erzählen.»
 
Lisa Schneider, Agenturleitung 13PHOTO, Jury SIYU AWARD 2025
 
 
Tianyu Wang recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Photography from ECAL and is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, Zibo, China, and Paris, France. Her work revolves around bodily experiences and phenomena of consciousness, taking the uncomfortable feelings of everyday life as a starting point and developing toward surrealism and fantasy, sometimes even grotesque directions. This approach aims to disrupt and dissolve the inherent properties and functions of things from both visual and narrative perspectives, using the mundane to confront the mundane. In her creation, actions serve as the narrative occurrence, and images are created as a result. Through such “New Photographic Actions,” she opposes everything she disapproves of with everything she endorses. Her work navigates the “gaps” between memory, experience, and imagination, creating fluid narratives with multilayered meanings characterized by heartfelt imagery. In her works, photography is the “gap” between the internal and external realms. Through this process, she connects personal experiences with collective history, transforming personalized consciousness into shared awareness. Her creations are influenced by the folklore of her hometown and by art history and psychology.

SIYU AWARD