Hao Xu

Hao Xu is a Chinese artist based in London. In this project, Hao discusses the topic of “identity” through Chinese seals. The idea of identity in modern life has diversified, people are able to access platforms by a variety of different means, turning identity into fragment by accounts, numbers and lots of log in. By living with different forms of identity, it is more difficult to perceive the boundary of one’s identity, which is confusing. With Hao’s Chinese background, he chose Chinese seals as a material, used for identity verification for thousands of years, to create a series of jewellery that unearths his own treasure of identity. 

Hao collected bills, notes and documents to trace daily activities, while doing inner exploration like meditation and self-portraits to perceive and record inner states responding to the traces. By using different techniques to apply information onto the surface of seal stone, Hao created a system of his own seal ID, to give a expression of his identity with both truth and feelings. As a jeweler and maker, Hao turns seal into precious stone, with material and personal meaning.