Born in Los Angeles and raised in England by Chinese and British parents, Ginger Liu’s work investigates the intersections of memory, identity, culture, and performance.
Ginger has photographed live art theatre in Los Angeles since 2007, producing thousands of images with more than eight million Flickr views since 2013. She has promoted independent film and art in Los Angeles and across the world and has produced images and text for numerous publications. In 2013, she opened GLIUSTUDIO where she produced portraits, editorial and promotional projects for artists and filmmakers in Hollywood. As Creative Director, Ginger has collaborated with burlesque and cabaret artists in Los Angeles, culminating in the ongoing GLIUSTUDIO project, Burlewood, which combines images of contemporary and classic Hollywood portraits, live performance and interviews. Ginger’s absorption in performance led to her MA Photography (2016) self-portrait series, Saudade: American – Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee; a series of composited identities lost in nostalgia and cheated Hollywood dreams. The Johanneans 1-4 is a multilayered investigation into her father’s upbringing in Shanghai during the 1920-40s and family life in America in the 1960s; including photographs, video, audio, archives and a travel memoir of a reunion and road trip across China. Dear Noni and John is the reading of more than 100 letters, written from her aunt in Liverpool to her mother in Los Angeles during the 1960s. Her Manchester School of Art MFA Photography (2017) video installation, I Have Lost Myself and Give Me the Key, is a powerful and disturbing compilation from 300+ videos, filmed over 30 days, depicting the raw and honest portrait of living with dementia and the blurring of artist process. She is currently developing her first feature which traces her mother’s memories of Liverpool and Los Angeles and a live performance of Give Me the Key.
Her work has shown at Manchester’s Holden Gallery, Liverpool’s Look International Photography Festival, London’s Photomonth, Los Angeles’s Think Tank and Perfect Exposure Gallery. She is a contributing editor of New York arts Ragazine and a consultant, writer, and promoter of independent film.
Ginger divides her time between London, Los Angeles, and Liverpool and is the founder of Ginger Media & Entertainment.
MFA Photography (2017) – Manchester School of Art
ActUpNorth Actors Workshop (2016 – ongoing )
Arts4Dementia Early-Stage Dementia Awareness Training for Arts Facilitators (2016)
BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Practice (1994) – University of Westminster
BTEC National Diploma in Photography – Southport College of Art (1990)
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Exhibits:
Holden Gallery – Manchester 2016
Edinburgh House – Manchester 2016
Accidental Archives – Manchester 2016
ThinkTank Gallery – Los Angeles 2014
Perfect Exposure Gallery: “Monday Night Tease Retrospective.” 2013. Los Angeles.
Look11 Liverpool International Photography Festival. 2011. “Hollywood.”
The Assembly Rooms London: “Strange Bedfellows.” 2010 – London Art Fairs and East London’s Photomonth Festival.
New Puppy Gallery Los Angeles: “Framed Stories.” 2010.
DRKRM Gallery Los Angeles: “The Last Picture Show.” 2009.
Finalist Federation of European Photographers. 2012. Lyon.
Silver Winner of the London Photographic Association Portraiture ‘The Nude 2’ competition.
Education:
MFA Photography – Manchester School of Art – Manchester Metropolitan University
MA Photography – Manchester School of Art (MMU)
BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Practice (Film, Media & Photography) The University of Westminster. London.
BTEC National Diploma in Photography Southport College of Art and Technology Merseyside.
