Jasper Yi Cao, born in 1998 in Changsha, China, currently living and working in Utrecht, The Netherlands. She works as an image creator and book designer. Her artistic focus revolves around exploring the intricate connection between archives and memories. She also pays attention to the impact of collective memory on communities in contemporary Chinese society.
Beyond artworks, she owns a book design studio and co-founded the "Howling Cactus" photography group in 2020 with two other photographers. Over the past four years, they have consistently created, self published five magazines and collaborating with public spaces for exhibitions.
Love Letters, Fireworks and Time Travel
2021–2025
Riso Print, Gelatin Silver, Giclee Print and Photo Books
In her installation, Cao highlights the importance of breaking with traditional forms of storytelling by weaving various non-linear narratives—letters and archives, collected photographs, and translations—into her complex work. She specifically focuses on the period of the Chinese diaspora in the 1990s.
“Love Letters, Fireworks and Time Travel” emerged from the discovery of dozens of love letters exchanged between two individuals who shared their feelings for one another during that time. The pairing with Yi Cao’s photographs creates a new narrative expansion of a love story in dialogue with the past.
She herself states: “The merging of these old love letters with my contemporary images culminates in a new love album. This album is a kind of time travel—an interweaving of people and moments through the combination of words and images. Like words, photographs also skillfully capture life’s fleeting moments.”
Links
Instagram
Email: jasper.caoyi@gmail.com
