Penetrating into the crevices of the rock: a critical graphic design reflection in Chinese alternative artists’ books
Yunqi Peng
Project overview —

Instead of viewing the extra-textual content of the book only as ancillary to the text, artists’ books regard the book itself as the medium of the concept (Phillpot, 1989; Bright, 2005; Allen, 2007; O’Brien, 2012; White, 2014; Thoburn, 2016; Baines, Credland, Pawson, 2018; Lawrence, 2022). As the practical site of artists’ books, art book fairs in China that combine exhibiting and selling have provided a deeper communication between creators and audiences in the last decade (Millichap, 2014; Clark, 2015; Steinfeld, 2017). However, China’s policy implementation that restricts individual publishing is ambiguous, the enforcers’ subjective judgment thus becomes the main criterion of practice.
My practice-led PhD research focuses on small-scale artists’ books as a sign vehicle — the physical or material form of the sign (Chandler and Munday, 2011) — in Chinese independent art publishing practice. Specifically, my practice provides examples of a book practice (which is independently initiated by individual practitioners) as a vehicle of a specific design in visual and format, interrogating how the form of the book shifts when ‘under the book fair table’, in response to policy restrictions and popular perceptions in China.

Biography

Yunqi Peng is a graphic designer, a researcher and an intercultural book-making practitioner in alternative bookstores and art book fairs. Her work primarily involves multi-media textual installations based on the concepts of artists’ books and fanzines, with a passion for exploring the unconventional visual narratives and the communication function of books.

She holds a BA from Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (Milan, 2020), a BFA from East China Normal University (Shanghai, 2020), and an MA from the Royal College of Art (London, 2022). She is currently a PhD candidate in the School of Communication at the Royal College of Art.

Her awards include a Professional Best of Show Award of PRINT Award, a Winner Award of New York TDC (Type Directors Club), a Merit Award of New York ADC (Art Directors Club), a Wood Pencil Award of D&AD, two nominated works and two excellent works of the Tokyo TDC, a Communication Arts Award of Excellence, and an annual experiment publishing award in Award 360°. Her works have been published, collected and exhibited in magazines, annual books, museums and galleries from China, Japan, France, Germany, Belgium, the USA and the UK.

With part of her family in Toronto and close companions in Hong Kong and Chongqing, her life swirls like a cloud above several different scents of the air.

When I wake up from a dream, my vision and mind are filled with trance and foggy clusters of colour. Sometimes I am reluctant to trust my memories, I am sceptical of these forms that claim to prove my memories.
When I wake up from a dream, my vision and mind are filled with trance and foggy clusters of colour. Sometimes I am reluctant to trust my memories, I am sceptical of these forms that claim to prove my memories.
All the forms and contracts that a Chinese person born in the 90s would have in their lifetime.
All the forms and contracts that a Chinese person born in the 90s would have in their lifetime.
The power to interpret my memories and experiences, to divide life into phases, to set up thresholds of access and coding systems, to be uncertain things in the mist.
The power to interpret my memories and experiences, to divide life into phases, to set up thresholds of access and coding systems, to be uncertain things in the mist.
A worksheet from a primary school and a receipt from an after-school course. A red award certificate and a yellow prescription are tightly covered.
A worksheet from a primary school and a receipt from an after-school course. A red award certificate and a yellow prescription are tightly covered.
Be careful of books. The experience of reading a book is one-to-one, private, difficult to retrieve and monitor.
Be careful of books. The experience of reading a book is one-to-one, private, difficult to retrieve and monitor.
A simulated table of an art book fair. People are reading in front of the “No Reading” sign.
A simulated table of an art book fair. People are reading in front of the “No Reading” sign.