The Silence of Hands shifts its focus to Uyghur women workers, specifi-cally weavers in a
carpet factory in Hotan and tailors in a fabric market in Kucha in Xinjiang, and delves into their
respective spaces. These spaces occupy the ambiguous realm between the public and the
private. As the women toil away, they engage in casual chatter, sharing the joys, yearn-ings, and
worries of their everyday lives. They size up the intruding film-maker, pondering the purpose
behind this filming endeavor. Yet, most of the time, they remain silent, much like the tools they
hold in their hands. The artist and her camera accompany their silence. Before and behind the
camera are the dual production of textile-making and filmmaking, and two kinds of women
workers: weaver and artist. The Silence of Hands is a continuation of the artist's consistent
engagement with the subtle experi-ences of women workers in their daily lives.
 

Director’s Bibliography:
LIU Yujia graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and obtained her master's degree from
London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. She currently lives and works
in Beijing. Liu Yujia explores the blurred boundary between reality and fiction with poetic
language. Considering the landscape at Asian frontiers as a vortex of suspended time and
space, she weaves documentary footage, literature，ethnography, folklore and travelogue to
construct films with embodied and affective experiences.

Festivals / Awards:
- Being Theoria, The 4th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Zhejiang Art Museum,
Hangzhou 2022
- A Darkness Shimmering in the Light LIU Yujia, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing 2023
- LIU Yujia: Infiltrate Slowly, Surplus Space, Wuhan 2021