Born in Hong Kong in 1991, Jess gained her BA (Honours) in Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong in 2014. Jess’ work applies themes such as narrative fragments, body memory and focus on iterative manual processes and the aggregation of time. Jess’ work involves a wide range of media - videos, animation, installation - it explores the uniqueness and the malleability of each different medium, for example, outlining the fiction and reality with stop-motion animation. Her iconic works are created through the accumulation of labour and time. The material is constantly reorganised, shaped and dismantled in the world of video, connecting and extending with the memory and imagination of the city as well as the individual self. At the same time, her works aim to break the cold impression of media art, to portray the temperature of people, the traces left by her body, and to emphasise the process of creation and imaging.
Jess’ artworks have been exhibited and screened internationally in: Ars Electronica, Austria, Animatou - International Animation Film Festival, Switzerland, Image Forum Festival 2022, Japan, Two Temple Place, London, IFVA Media Art Festival, Hong Kong, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong, West Kowloon FreeSpace, Hong Kong and etc. Jess was the selected artist of Tai Kwun Contemporary Artists' Studio Residency 2020 and awarded the Nanying Prize from Taiwan 2022.
Jess lives and works in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
劉清華生於1991年香港﹐2014年獲得香港城市大學創意媒體文學士（榮譽）學位。擅長以片段式的影像探索敍事的可能，及以個人與城市記憶作為主要創作題材。作品著眼於不同媒介本身的獨特性及其質感之可塑性，媒界涉及錄像、定格動畫、裝置等元素。她的標誌性作品通過投放大量勞動和時間累積創作而成，物質在影像的世界裡不斷重組、形塑、拆解，並與城市的邊緣以至個人的記憶與想像進行連結，延展。同時，作品希望打破媒體藝術冰冷的印象，刻劃出人的溫度與身體留下的痕跡，也著重創作與成像的過程，比起精緻高清的視覺元素，她更響往略帶粗糙與不穩定的影像，並強調物質的消逝性和流動性。
作品多次參加各地展覽與影展，如：奧地利林茲電子藝術節、瑞士國際動畫節Animatou、日本Image Forum Festival、倫敦Two Temple Place，香港IFVA媒體藝術節、香港大館當代藝術館、西九自由空間等等。劉清華於2020年進駐大館藝術家工作室，2022年為台灣南瀛獎得主。
現工作於香港和台灣。
｜Education
2021 (on-going) Master of Arts in Creative Writing, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan
2014 Bachelor of Arts in Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2008 Ist. Mag. Francesco De Sarlo, Lagonegro (Pz) , Italy
｜Award
2022 南瀛獎 Nanying Award, Taiwan
2022 Gold Award, The 27th IFVA, Hong Kong
2019 Hong Kong Publishing Biennial Awards
2016 Frist Prize, Children Picture category, Creative Writing in Chinese, Hong Kong
2015 Silver Award & The Best Local Work, The 20th IFVA, Hong Kong
2014 Best of the Show, School of Creative Media Annual Show, Hong Kong
｜Residency
2020 Tai Kwun Contemporary’s Residency Programme, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
2017 Arteles Residency Program, Haukijarvi, Finland
2017 Shinano Primitive Sense Art Festival, Nagano, Japan
2014 City University of Hong Kong's Extreme Environments program: Antarctica expedition
｜Solo Exhibitions
2023 Wend a Way, Goethe-Institut, Hong Kong
2021 The Cave with a Wheeze, McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre
｜Group Exhibitions
2023
Phantom Horizons, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
State-less, A Two Temple Place & Kakilang Exhibition, London, UK
Diachronic Echoes, HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity Gallery, Hong Kong
after/party, Supper House, Singapore
2022
Shall We Play a Game, 480.0, Hong Kong
香港エクスペリメンタル映像特集, Image Forum Festival 2022, Tokyo, Japan
Animatou - International Animation Film Festival, Geneva Switzerland
Nanying Awards exhibition, Tainan, Taiwan
Emo gym, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
2021
Lamma Mia, Public Art Exhibition, Lamma Island, Hong Kong
Art After Hours, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
ZE/RO, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong
TOMATO GREY TEN YEARS LATER: A LITTLE GREYER, White Box, NYC (postponed)
We Are Our Own Demons, Negative Space, Hong Kong
Inter-island Festival, Hong Kong
In Sync: Music in Motion, Freespace, West Kowloon, Hong Kong
2020
Kowloon City Civil Servants’ Cooperative Building Societies Exhibition, The Mahjong, Hong Kong
The Translucent White - double solo exhibition with DOKI MIZUHO, Art spot korin, Kyoto, Japan
2019
Return Flight, Floating projects,Hong Kong & Blender Studios, Melbourne, Australia
Nevertheless, History Continues, Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong
#REMBRANDT, PMQ, Hong Kong
Chasing The Citys' Frames Back to HK Stop Motion Animation Exhibition, C&G, Hong Kong
Nothing Can Come Closer, Floating Projects, Hong Kong
Chasing the City Frames: from Hong Kong to Houston, Rice University, Houston, USA
2018
ALGORITHMIC ART: SHUFFLING SPACE AND TIME, Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong
ifva Carnival – The City is the Cinema, Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong
虛異, Yan-huang Art Museum, Beijing, China
玩．想Form Society, Hong Kong
Sailing, RED CUBES in Longgang, Shenzhen, China
Passengers' Anecdotes, Fringe Club, Hong Kong
2017
Next+, PMQ, Hong Kong
Shinano Primitive Sense Art Festival 2017, Nagano, Japan
Contemporary Neoclassic – Hong Kong Ink Art, DaGuan Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
HAS-BEEN-THERE, Hong Kong SOHO Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong
Simulacrum Living: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Shenzhen Art Museum, China
Expænsive Cinema: An FPC Production, Floating Projects, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong
The 22th Incubator for Film & Visual Media in Asia (ifva) finalist exhibition, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2016
Ink+, Ink Asia 2016, HKCEC, Hong Kong
The Age of Experience, Vienna, Austria
TOY as medium－Floating Projects Assemblage session, Hong Kong
Recurrence, Floating Projects, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong (with kinchoi lam)
HQ Public Art Project, 80 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong
2015
Hong Kong Creative Force, Inno Design Tech Expo, HKCEC, Hong Kong
POST CITY – Habitats for the 21st Century, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
Young Talent, Affordable Art fair 2015, Hong Kong
Art Centre, Art Basel 2015, HKCEC, Hong Kong
Pure Art Foundation annual show, Chai Wan Mei, Hong Kong
The 20th Incubator for Film & Visual Media in Asia (ifva) finalist exhibition, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2014
The Writing Machine Collective, 5th edition, TRACING DATA: What you Read is Not What we Write, Hong Kong and Zurich
Extreme Environment: Antarctica Expedition and exhibition 2013-2014, Hong Kong
The SCM annual 2014 Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, Hong Kong