East Meets West: Artist Captures Cultural Differences

On November 4, Berlin-based artist and designer Yang Liu gave a presentation of her award-winning cultural pictograms at NYU Shanghai.

Drawing from her experiences of growing up in China and Germany, Liu’s ‘East Meets West: An Infographic Portrait’ juxtaposes eye-catching infographics that cleverly distill her observations of the two cultures.

“I had a wonderful childhood growing up in Beijing,” Liu said, “but at age 13--that impressionable age for building one’s personality -- my parents convinced me to move to Germany. I came to make these images as a result of that move, constantly comparing every aspect of life between the two countries.”

With Western customs depicted on a blue background and Eastern on red, the series succinctly captures different perceptions and attitudes through a single image: in Liu’s vision, the complexities of self expression, problem-solving, and memory-making become a path between two points, a set of footprints confronting an obstacle, and a single eye versus a camera.

The infographics started as a set of posters but quickly became a viral hit on social media leading her to publish the series as a book, East Meets West.

Liu’s other work explores perceived differences between men and women, and observations of the modern age -- contrasting the old 9 to 5 working day to round-the-clock email checking.

“When I first saw Yang Liu’s series of infographics on the differences between Eastern and Western culture, I reacted similarly to how millions of others around the world did: I shared it. The simple graphics reveal an ineffable understanding and witty take on the cultural differences of people on opposite sides of the globe. I am glad to be able to share it again, this time with the creator in person and to the NYU Shanghai community,” said host and moderator Assistant Arts Professor Antonius Wiriadjaja.

Liu’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions around the world including Germany, US, Japan, French and Poland.