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12 Oct Xiaorong Liu

Posted at 13:17h Highlighted Member, Members by

Xiaorong Liu was a member of the second cohort of the P.R.I.S.M.E program in 2022.

October’s #MainArtist, Xiaorong Liu shares her feelings and reflections on her integration as an artist and as a new immigrant to Canada, as well as ways to overcome the constraints imposed on everyone’s freedom.

Xiaorong Liu is an animation director, producer, entrepreneur, and new immigrant in Montreal. Her keen interest is in exploring different perspectives, channels, and expressions to protect and promote local cultural legacies under a cross-geographical, cross-cultural, and cross-ethnic context. She earned a degree in digital media from Peking University in China and became one of the first generations who applies modern digital technology to the animation industry of the country. She co-directed China’s first Peking Opera animation series with Chinese painting style, which coherently integrated the two traditional artistic heritages into a novel format and won the love of millions of younger generations. She also participated in many Sino-Canada, and Sino-US projects as the co-director and project planner to promote environmental protection themes through a multicultural lens. Inspired by her immigrant life in Montreal, she is now preparing for her first documentary series focusing on the integration of Montreal’s Asian “study mothers”, who accompany their children to study in Montreal while experiencing the long-term separation from their families during and after the pendamic. She hopes to probe the role of diversity, inclusiveness and cultural integration to the well-being of immigrants.

#MAINARTIST

Main Film is an artist-run center committed to supporting its community as a whole, without distinction, in the creation of independent film.

Our strength is in our members. They are our very essence.

Beyond general statements of solidarity against racism following the events of the summer of 2020, but also against more recent and historically ongoing acts of racism, it seemed essential to offer a place so our members can express their feelings towards the discrimination they experience regarding their skin color, their origins, their sexual orientation, their gender, and for them to share their reflections about the societal issues that exists in any form of rejection of the Other.

Each month, Main Film will provide a platform for its members to share their thoughts on the discrimination they face.

Our sixthteen contributing artist is Xiaorong Liu.

#MainArtist #ArtisteImportant

Because it is artists who carry both the role of representing society and making it evolve.

❝As a new immigrant, I have become more and more sensitive because my living environment and observation perspective have changed in the last four years. I don’t want to become a hedgehog, protecting myself in a thorny shell because of some different “voices”; I want to touch the world as softly as a sponge and breathe freely.
I believe that freedom is always conditional freedom, and it is framed in a boundary. Only when you feel trapped by a boundary will you find a way to break or go around it; of course, there are some people who feel safe and superior only within the boundary. When we try to define freedom, we find that they are different. Some can be obtained for little cost, while others require the shackles of morality and law. This is only more acutely realized when you stands outside the boundaries.
The world is fluid, and we choose to live in different countries, different cities, different communities, and even with different loved ones because of our different pursuits. I would say it is a choice we make to follow our hearts. We know that all choices come with a price, whether it is the internal struggle or the external scrutiny and questioning. We have to keep pulling with our inner-selves and with the outside world, hoping to reach a balance so that inner-self can gain enough strength and courage not to be swallowed by the outside world.
Lots of things happened. As the BIPOC group, we’ve experienced, we’ve participated, and we’ve strited. We tried to make our voices heard, louder and
louder.
We try to dialogue with our ego and constantly revise it. Whenever we are faced with discrimination and injustice, we are always accustomed to look for clues from ourselves first, trying to find the source of malice by judging the rightness or wrongness of our own actions. What makes us develop this habit?
It’s like staring at a pot of water on the stove and never guessing where the first bubble will come out; it’s like being chased in a dream, but every time you think you’ve escaped, the next moment you always fall off a bottomless cliff. This kind of uneasiness and trepidation follows you like a shadow.
Maybe just a little understanding, a little support, and a little encouragement can make us face the unknown without fear.
The October landscape is colorful, and while we appreciate the brilliant reds and yellows, we must not forget the greens that adorn it. Each leaf has its own characteristics and natural rhythm, and it is their indispensable fusion with each other that makes us give a heartfelt admiration. ❞
Xiaorong Liu
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