Kill Bill and Charlie’s Angels star Lucy Liu on her deeply personal art and why she ‘came out’ as an artist
- Liu, who is exhibiting in Singapore for the first time, has long been interested in art and had her first solo show, under her Chinese name, in 1993
- Works on display include a set of books with cut-outs holding found items she picked off the streets
Lucy Liu is a bag lady. A ziplock bag lady, that is.
It is hard to imagine, but the popular Hollywood actress, who is known for her roles in the movies Charlie’s Angels (2000) and Kill Bill (2003) as well as the popular US TV series Elementary, has a habit of picking up discarded items off the streets. Think empty Tic Tac (a mint-flavoured confectionery) boxes, broken bits of jewellery and even rock fragments.
“It has gotten to a point when I’m filming, people will hand me stuff in a ziplock bag,” says Liu with a laugh. “I’ve been criticised for picking things off the streets – without gloves – and putting them in my handbag, but I find it abhorrent to pollute and waste.”
Since 2012, she has been placing this salvaged detritus in handmade, books bound with Italian fabric (also rescued from a factory where they were meant to be disposed) by cutting out spaces within the pages. She says: “The idea is to find a home for things that have been discarded. Once they were placed in the books, they seem to have found a place. They become quite pristine, almost framed.”
This installation series, titled Lost and Found, features close to 200 books, each of which is categorised according to the location where she found them. It is on display as part of her art exhibition, “Unhomed Belongings”, in Singapore.